Introduction:
Millets are gaining attention among the growing population, owing to their extraordinary nutritional and health benefits. Nearly three-fourths of the adults have diabetes mellitus disorder, due to changing food habits and lifestyle. Millets have been a nutritious food since ancient times, however in recent times the consumption rate of millets has been decreasing. Hence, Government of India has been busy setting goals to achieve nutritional security along with food security and has been actively working towards promotion of millets. Indian Government declared the year 2018 as “National Year of Millets” to promote millet production in the country. India strives to promote production and consumption of millets to fight hunger and mitigate the climate change effects. India exports millets to Libya, Yemen, UK, including Morocco and currently stands in the 5th position globally in the export of millets. In 2020-21, Indian millet exports were worth USD 2607 million and Indian Union Budget has since then planned on postharvest value addition and branding of millet products. The objectives were to bring back these nutri-cereals into the human diet and to raise awareness about the benefits of consuming millets among the consumers, policy makers, Industry, including increasing its focus towards Research and Development.
NITI Aayog and World Food Programme collaborated in order to strengthen climate-resilient agriculture for enhancing food and nutritional security in India. NITI Aayog and WFP have been setting targets on millet food distribution and adaptability among pre-school children and women to reduce malnutrition. It has also been offering technical support from State Government, academic institutions in mainstreaming millets. It has been able to establish the development of good agricultural practices in millet cultivation. Upon the proposal received from the Indian Government and efforts taken by NITI Aayog with WFP, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has declared the year 2023 as “International Year of Millets”.
Pearl Millet is one of the major millets having a wonderful source of protein and is also recommended in the daily diet of individuals. Prolonged times for cooking, rancidity of the flour during storage are some of the problems faced in pearl millet processing. Various by products such as popped millets, flaked millets, malted millet products and fermented millet products are developed from pearl millets, which are gaining consumers acceptance today. Non-alcoholic beverages from pearl millet using Lactic acid bacterial strains are being focussed currently for further development. This article provides an overview on the nutritional profile and benefits of Pearl Millet in Human Diet.
Millets
Millets belong to the Poaceae family, commonly known as grass and most of the millets are staple foods. Millets are classified based on their size. Major millets include pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), finger millet (Eleusine coracena) and sorghum. Minor millets include proso millet (panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (setaria italica), barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentaceae.L), Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) and little millet (Panicum sumatrense). Figure 1 presents the nutritional benefits of pearl millet, that has high iron content of 16.9 mg.
Pearl millet is gluten-free, but it continues to remain underutilized due to its rancidity problems. Thermal treatments and combination of thermal treatment with infrared reduce rancidity in pearl millet flour during the shelf life of 90 days (Vinutha T et al. 2021).
Pearl Millet-based products
Millets are often referred to as ‘Super foods’ and they also possess the ability to replace wheat and rice in a person’s diet. Pearl millet acts as iron supplement for infants, adults and diabetic patients. Millet milk, non-alcoholic millet beverages, millet cookies, millet muffins, millet bars, popped and puffed millets are being developed from pearl millet, which are gaining the attention of consumers. New product development in pearl millet is certainly expected to have higher acceptance rate among the consumers.
Protein bars
Protein bars can be formulated from pearl millet, roasted peanuts, raisins, whey milk, honey at proximate level, which attracts consumers belonging to all age groups. The energy value and the protein content of the bar are enhanced during the operations such as mixing and baking.
Pastas
Pasta is a ready to cook product, which is cooked, heated and mixed during the extrusion process. Pasta is well received by a higher percentage of consumers, since it is easy to cook and has a longer shelf life. Pasta can be made more nutritious by formulating it with pearl millet, which is a rich source of protein (10.6g/100g). Micronutrients such as iron and zinc contents are improved during the extrusion process, while at the same time reducing the gluten content in the millet pasta.
Breakfast Cereals
Millets remain an ideal breakfast choice, as it prevents overeating. Pearl millet is popped, mixed and baked with other ingredients in the development of this breakfast cereal. Pearl millet is mixed with other nutrition sources like sunflower seeds, flaxseeds in order to provide nutrition for the human body as a whole. With Millets containing plenty of nutrients, there has been a greater demand for this breakfast cereal today.
Beverages
Pearl millet beverage is processed by grinding the soaked pearl millets and heating the milk, followed by addition of preservatives, flavours and colours. Millet milk takes long time to digest and maintains the blood sugar level of diabetic patients. Apart from this, probiotic microorganisms such as Lactobacilius acidophilus and lactic acid bacteria are inoculated to pearl millet milk, which maintains the digestive health. Non-alcoholic beverages are produced using Leuconostoc mesenteroids, Pediococcus pentosaceus that ferments pearl millet milk in producing nonalcoholic beverages. Recommended natural and artificial flavours are also added to improve the sensory properties of beverage. Lactic acid strains are used as a starter culture in beverage production to prevent spontaneous and uncontrolled fermentation. Pearl millets are fermented and commercialized either alone or incorporated with nutrient supplements to enhance the pasting and sensory properties (Maria Iji Adakole et al. 2021).
Weaning Foods
Weaning stage is the introduction of solid and semi-solid foods to infants belonging to the age group of 6-12 months. Pearl millet maintains the haemoglobin level of toddlers and it is recommended in the infant diet (Mehta Saurabh et al. 2022). Combination of quinoa and pearl millet flour with a prebiotic source of carbohydrates results in the growth of probiotic microorganisms and also improves gut health. Malted pearl millets with wheat and rice improve digestibility and increase nutrient value in infants.
Benefits
Carbohydrates in pearl millet are digested slowly to maintain blood sugar level in diabetic patients. Pearl millets rich in dietary fibre lower the cholesterol levels in blood and prevent the risk of cardiovascular disease and satiate hunger for a longer period of time. Pearl millet is a hypo allergen with low gluten content that can prevent celiac disease and is recommended for people belonging to all age groups. Pearl millet couscous and porridge promote satiety, since it is digested slowly and reduces hunger in comparison to wheat and rice porridge (Anna M.R. Hayes et al. 2021). The antioxidants rich pearl millet lessens the radical damages and prevents early ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. The therapeutic nature of pearl millet makes the stomach alkaline and reduces the probability of colon cancer. The insoluble fibre reduces the bile juice production in the liver, which prevents the formation of gall stones.
Challenges
The antinutrient contents in pearl millets reduce the bioavailability of nutrients to the human body. Phytic acid, being a strong chelating agent reduces the bioavailability of Calcium, Zinc and Iron (Eleonora Boncompagni et al. 2018). Decortication of millets reduces anti-nutritional factors by removing the pericarp of the millets. Heat treatment involving roasting, boiling, autoclaving, which reduces the phytic acid and tannin content in the pearl millet. Soaking (12 to 18 hours) of pearl millet before germination or sprouting is done to increase the bioavailability of the nutrients and reduce the cooking time of the millets. Pearl millet flour is highly susceptible to rancidity, as it contains lipase and lipoxygenase enzymes.
Future Prospects
As the pearl millet is rich in iron content, extraction of iron using non-thermal technology would be economical in terms of yield, extraction rate and time. Inactivation of lipase enzymes in pearl millet flour results in enhancement of its shelf life. Biofortification using iron in pearl millet is a suggested technique to reduce malnutrition. Development and commercialization of protein isolate from pearl millet would be a great opportunity for the food processing industry. Along with millet milk and millet ice cream, designing of millet coffee would also serve to be a welcome product for the market. The nutrition of the pearl millet is enhanced by various thermal and non-thermal processes. Multipin cold plasma treated at atmospheric condition is used in millet flour for improving its functional properties (Samuel jaddu et al. 2022).
Conclusion
In our technology-based living, human population must concentrate on their health. Switching over to millet and millet-based foods that have enormous health benefits can reduce the risks of occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus in human-beings that would pave the way for individuals to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Thermal technologies have been used to process the millets to reduce the anti-nutritional factors. In future, non-thermal technologies in food processing could be used to obtain a better yield of extract or for inactivation of enzymes or to reduce the levels of the anti-nutritional factors.
References:
- Jaddu, S., Pradhan, R. C., & Dwivedi, M. (2022). Effect of multipin atmospheric cold plasma discharge on functional properties of little millet (Panicum miliare) flour. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 77, 102957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ifset.2022.102957
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- Hayes, A. M. R., Gozzi, F., Diatta, A., Gorissen, T., Swackhamer, C., Bellmann, S., & Hamaker, B. R. (2021). Some pearl millet-based foods promote satiety or reduce glycaemic response in a crossover trial. British Journal of Nutrition, 126(8), 1168–1178. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S0007114520005036
- NITI Aayog signs a Statement of Intent with United Nations World Food Program (WFP) https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare. aspx?PRID=1783716
- Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare proposes to United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization to declare an upcoming year as “International Year of Millets” https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare. aspx?PRID=1543223
- Exports of millets to increase exponentially as Indian exporters find new markets. https://pib. gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1796514
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