New research claims cockroaches can bite with a force 50 times greater than its own body weight.

According to a study conducted by University of Cambridge researchers, cockroaches make use of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers as well as add a 'force boost' to their mandibles to chew on tough materials. They can bite with a force 50 times stronger than their own body weight, and with five times more force than a human being, reported TechTimes.

Cockroaches have a pair of strong, horizontally aligned sharp jaws, or mandibles, which they use for eating, digging, transporting, defense and feeding offspring.

"As insects play a dominant role in many ecosystems, understanding the amount of force that these insects can exert through their mandibles is a pivotal step in better understanding behavioral and ecological processes and enabling bio-inspired engineering," said lead researcher Dr Tom Weihmann, from Cambridge University's Department of Zoology.

"Ours is the first study to measure the bite forces of ordinary insects, and we found that the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, can generate a bite force around 50 times stronger than their own body weight."

For the purpose of the study, the researchers measured the force of hundreds of bites with cockroaches opening their mouths at different angles. They found that cockroaches had a wide range of bite strength and duration, reported DailyMail.

"The weaker, shorter bites were generated by relatively fast muscle fibres, while the longer, stronger bites were driven by additional muscle fibres that take time to reach their maximum force," said Dr Weihmann in the DailyMail report.

Dr Weihmann said that by gaining a better understanding of how an insect's small head capsule withstands such powerful force could also have interesting applications for engineering and robotics, according to The Guardian.

The study has been published in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.