Ruspolia differens (Serville) (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) is a highly valued edible grasshopper species in Africa. However, the effects of plant diets on lipid content and fatty acid composition of R. differens are not well understood. We tested the effects of four diets on the total lipid content and fatty acid composition of R. differens. Sixth instar nymphs of R. differens were reared on one, and mixtures of two, three, and six natural plant inflorescences. Individuals collected from the field constituted a control treatment. We extracted lipids and analyzed the fatty acid methyl esters using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. We analyzed if the total lipid content, body weight, and fatty acid composition differed among diets and between the sexes using two‐way ANOVAs and a PERMANOVA model, respectively. The total lipid content and weight of R. differens did not differ among the diets. The nine common fatty acids were palmitic (mean across treatments, 26%), oleic (22%), palmitoleic (18%), linoleic (13%), stearic (7%), myristic (6%), myristoleic (4%), α‐linolenic (2%) and arachidic acid (1%). The composition of fatty acids and the proportion of essential fatty acids significantly differed among the diets. The proportion of essential fatty acids was highest in the control treatment (21%) but low in less diversified (one to three feed) diets (12–13%). This study demonstrates that the fatty acid composition in R. differens can be influenced through diet. Thus, with dietary manipulations, using local plants in Africa, it is possible to produce R. differens with preferred high quality essential fatty acids for human consumption.

The composition of the fatty acids in muscle and heart tissue of seven fish species, Nile perch (Lates niloticus), Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus), Lake Victoria squeaker (Synodontis victoriae), Bagrus docmas, and Tilapia zilli, from two locations in Lake Kyoga and one location in Lake Victoria was chemometrically determined. The muscle tissue was very lean, with an average of 3.4 mg total fatty acids per g tissue. The lipid level in the heart tissue was approximately five times higher than in the muscle tissue, with an average of 15.5 mg total fatty acids per g tissue. The n-3/n-6 level in the muscles was 1.7 +/- 0.7 and in the heart tissue 1.0 +/- 0.4. The muscle tissue contained an average of 46 mg cholesterol per 100 g, and the heart tissue contained about five times as much. Plasmalogens were detected in 7-8% of the amounts of total fatty acids in both muscle and heart tissue. The seven species had large differences (P < 0.05) in the fatty acid composition for both muscle and heart tissue. Within the species there were differences between fish from the populations in the three locations, although the population differences were smaller than the species differences. These differences appear to be controlled more closely by genetics/transcriptomics than by the diet.

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