Super Millets: Analyzing the Nutri-Potential

 

The world is witnessing the lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular disease, skin problems, cancer, celiac disease, etc. mounting swiftly due to the fast and faulty lifestyle prevalent today. Work stress coupled with digitization of the economy and high consumption of simple sugars, refined foods have contributed to inadequate nutrition levels and poor health.

It is thereby crucial to re-examine our lifestyle and to adopt healthy dietary practices to enjoy a better quality of life. Millets can play a crucial role in this regard along with the incorporation of whole foods, less processed & refined foods in our daily diet.

Nutritional Significance:

• Millets are popularly known as Nutri-cereals as they provide most of the nutrients required for the normal functioning of the human body.
• Each of the millets is three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of proteins, minerals (calcium and iron- that are essentially required for growing children, pregnant and lactating women who are more sensible for anaemic conditions) and vitamins viz., thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid and niacin. Millets are comparable to rice and wheat or rich in some of the minerals as well as fatty acids. It also provide energy for a long time due to slow digestion, which makes them best diabetic food.

Health benefits of millets:

• Lowers bad cholesterol, triglycerides levels and C- reactive protein, thereby preventing cardiovascular disease.
• Beneficial in the detoxifying body.
• They are low in Glycemic Index (GI) as such don't cause a huge spikes in blood sugar.
• Prevents the onset of breast cancer.
• Effective in reducing blood pressure.
• Helps to optimize kidney, liver, and immune system health. 
• Millets are gluten-free so good for people who are gluten-intolerant and non- allergenic.
• All millets are rich in dietary fibre. Hence, has a water-absorbing and bulking property that increases the transit time of food in the gut which helps in reducing the risk of inflammatory bowel disease.
• Reduces the risk of gastrointestinal conditions like gastric ulcers or colon cancer.
• Eliminate problems like constipation, excess gas, bloating, and cramping.
• Millet acts as a probiotic feeding micro flora in our inner ecosystem.

Examples of some common millet:

Millets should ideally be an integral part of our daily diet. They comprise a variety of cereals such as:

·         Sorghum (Jowar): It is rich in protein, fibre, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, and carotene.

·         Pearl Millet (Bajra): Rich in niacin, folate, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, and vitamins E and B- complex

·         Finger Millet (Ragi): Richest source of calcium, highest mineral content, proteins are unique because of the sulphur rich amino acid contents.

The other important nutritional components present in millets include resistant starch, oligosaccharides, lipids, antioxidants such as phenolic acids, avenanthramides, flavonoids, lignans, and phytosterols which are believed to be responsible for many health benefits.

• Millets are easily available and cheap in cost but still not consumed by many, the major reasons of decrease in consumption is the lack of awareness of nutritional merits, inconveniences in food preparation, lack of processing technologies, and also the government policy of disincentives towards millets and favoring of supply of fine cereals at subsidized prices.
• Prefer to buy Multi grain processed food products like Multigrain Atta, Multigrain Biscuits, and Multigrain Bread, etc having millets as one of the ingredients. Prefer millets in packed form and certified under AGMARK.
• Government should promote and incentivize millets and promote them as Super Foods.

 

:By Zoomi Singh, Nutritionist & Researcher.