Scientists reveal what aliens might actually eat if they landed on Earth

One unexpected consideration that comes with aliens visiting our planet is their diet, and while there's no way to know the specific types of food a hypothetical extraterrestrial would eat, we can make a good guess about how much they'd need to consume for survival.

Every living organism out there has to eat enough to exceed its basal metabolic rate (BMR), which refers to the minimum number of calories needed for your body to survive and remain healthy at complete rest.

Aliens visiting our planet would likely need far more than this baseline figure due to the likely activities they'd be undergoing – especially if we were subject to a hostile invasion – so that would definitely be higher and dependent on their overall size.

There's no way of knowing what exactly a prospective alien would look like, and nor are scientists able to figure out whether the conditions in space would impact their required needs, but we can give a good guess and hope that humans aren't the top choice on the menu.

How much would aliens have to eat to survive?

Analysis conducted by the Independent estimates that the most common concept of an alien (weighing roughly 70 kilograms) would need around 1,700 kcal per day as its BMR. This could nearly double with a weight that goes beyond 150 kilograms.

Aliens might not be able to eat the foods that we can, relying instead on raw materials (Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

A single chicken breast weighing around 100 grams has roughly 165 calories after being cooked, so these aliens would need to be consuming a lot if they wanted to keep up with the demands of their bodies during their visit to Earth.

Of course, they must have their own food source to survive before visiting our planet, and there's the potential that they might not even be compatible with the produce available on our planet. After all, there are numerous risks in consuming food that our bodies have become used to.

Aliens would likely need to consume a lot of calories to meet (and exceed) their basal metabolic rate when visiting Earth (Universal / Getty Images)

Evolution determined that the bodies of humans and every other animal on Earth are designed to process the food that's available to them, yet aliens might lack the necessary amino acids to digest terrestrial proteins, or find themselves subject to toxins, pathogens, and allergens that our bodies naturally filter out.

Interstellar visitors could be forced to turn their eyes to raw materials like water, iron, salts, or even organic molecules instead of the items we consider food, providing a significantly different way of life from our own.

Has there been any evidence of alien presence on Earth?

Despite the recent declassification of alien-related files by the Trump administration, there’s no concrete evidence whatsoever that aliens have ever visited Earth in any form.

This is something that has been debated heavily by alien enthusiasts for decades, with many not only claiming that evidence exists but often saying they’ve seen it with their very own eyes. Still, there remains no official declaration, regardless of whether things are being kept under wraps or not.

Many viewed the recent release of files as a major step forward, but these relate only to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs for short, of which none can be directly linked to alien life — something that has riled up a notable scientist in particular.