The qualitative nutritional requirements of insects were well defined in the 1950s through 1970s, and such requirements were very similar to those of invertebrates. Accordingly, diets to date are formulated with balanced protein (essential amino acids), carbohydrates (simple and complex sugars), lipids and sterols (fatty acids), vitamins (especially B complex) and minerals. Special nutrients can be added as phagostimulants and/or growth promoters. The components are set to a consistency (usually containing agar) based on the insect’s feeding habits and with the proper pH and anticontaminants. Standard and generic diets were developed and became available in the market. In recent years, more attention has been given to the quality control of insects produced in laboratories and to the rearing and handling techniques, particularly based on thermal requirements; the selection of more adapted insects became an important approach (genetics). The quantitative nutrition called for more attention in the 1980s, especially by North American groups and more recently new study models have been proposed by the Europeans. For the past two decades a great advance towards entomophagous nutrition, which meets scope the picture of nutrition under the ecological point of view (nutritional ecology), focusing interactions with nutrition, ecology, behavior and physiology. Successful in vitro productions of idiobiontic parasitoids and predators followed. The interaction with symbionts and enzymatic studies are becoming more and more important to elucidate the mechanisms and the development of diets. In this lecture a parallel between insect rearing and artificial diets in developed and developing countries is established.

Index terms: artificial diets, dietetics, qualitative nutrition