Nature s Neutraceuticals - Millets. * of corresponding author:

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1 Nature s Neutraceuticals - Millets M. Dhananivetha 1* and R. Gowthami 2 1 Ph. D Scholar, Department of Agronomy, AC and RI, Madurai Ph. D Scholar, Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, AC and RI, Madurai * of corresponding author: dhananivetha@gmail.com Kheti Volume -2, Issue-3 (July-September), 2014 Available online at popularkheti.info ISSN: Nutraceuticals are health enhancing physiologically active food components which are also called as phytochemicals. They play a key role as health protective and disease preventive agents and have tremendous impact on the health care system. There has been an upsurge of interest among scientific community to characterize the role of nutraceuticals in management of diseases and development of functional/designer foods for various purposes. Millets have a role to play here, owing to their nutrient and phytochemical composition. Introduction Food from natural origin plays a significant role in health care system of any human. Nutritional benefits of the food are of most important to lead an active and healthy life. Each of the millets has its nutritional and nutraceutical specialities. Millets are amazing in their nutritional content and are three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of minerals and vitamins. Finger millet has thirty times more calcium than rice while every other millet has at least twice the amount of calcium compared to rice. In their Iron content, foxtail and little millet are so rich that rice is nowhere in the race. Among the millets, pearl millet (Bajra) has the highest content of macronutrients, and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, Mg, P, folic acid and riboflavin. Finger millet (ragi) is an extraordinary source of calcium. Though low in fat content, it is high in PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) (Antony et al. 1996). It is also rich in essential amino acids, like lysine, threonine, valine, sulphur containing amino acids and the ratio of leucine to isoleucine is about 2 (Ravindran, 1992). While most of us seek a micronutrient such as Beta Carotene in pharmaceutical pills and capsules, millets offer it in abundant quantities. Every single millet is extraordinarily superior to rice and wheat and therefore is the solution for the malnutrition that affects a vast majority of the Indian population. Millets contain large quantities of phenolics and other compounds which prevent deterioration of human health (Raghavendra et al., 2011). Thus small millets provide an opportunity to improve the health of people, reduce health care costs and support economic development. We don t have to eat less, we have to eat right Energy rich food Human life can be sustained only under with adequate nourishment. Man needs adequate amount of food for growth and development. Man to a wide range of foods to choose to make Kheti ISSN:

2 up his diet. Since all foods are not of the same quality from a nutritional point of view man s ability to meet his nutritional needs and maintain good health depends upon the type and quality of foodstuff included in the diet. The nutrients required by human include proteins, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. The food containing these nutrients are classified as cereals, millets, legumes, nuts and oilseeds and most foods contains almost all of the nutrients in various proportions. To lead a healthy and active life diet should be well balanced to provide all the nutrients in proper proportions. Millets Each of the millets has its nutritional and nutraceutical specialities. Each of the millets is three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of proteins, minerals and vitamins. Each one of the millets has more fibre than rice and wheat. Some as much as fifty times that of rice. Finger millet has thirty times more Calcium than rice while every other millet has at least twice the amount of Calcium compared to rice. In their Iron content, foxtail and little millet are so rich that rice is nowhere in the race. While most of us seek a micronutrient such as Beta Carotene in pharmaceutical pills and capsules, millets offer it in abundant quantities. The much privileged rice, ironically, has zero quantity of this precious micronutrient. In this fashion, nutrient to nutrient, every single millet is extraordinarily superior to rice and wheat and therefore is the solution for the malnutrition that affects a vast majority of the Indian population. Role of millets in health promotion Proteins Major source of building material of the body. Amino acids are the units from which the proteins are made. Our body can make many of the amino acids by converting other amino acids. Eight cannot be made they can be provided only through external diet called Essential aminoacids. Essential amino acids are Histidine, Lysine, Tryptophan, Phenylalanine, Methionine, Threonine, Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. Studies have indicated that among the millets Barnyard millet recorded highest protein content (15.07%) and lowest was in Proso millet (8.5%). The average protein content in little, Kodo and Foxtail millet were reported to be about 9.5, 8.8 and per cent respectively, with varietal differences within species as reported by several investigators (Kumar and Parameshwaran, 1998 and Veena et al., 2005). Fig 1. Amino acid profile of various food grains in comparison with millets Rice Wheat Maize Jowar Bajra Thenai Varagu Samai Bengal gram Blackgram Geengram Red gram Lentil Cowpea Ragi Histidine Threonine Valine Isoleucine Leucine Phenylalanine Tryptophan Lysine Kheti ISSN:

3 Vitamins and minerals Higher concentration of zinc, copper and chromium in Little millet, while higher concentration of calcium, phosphorous, manganese and magnesium were recorded in Barnyard millet (Anon., 1983).A significant variation in calcium content of five minor millets (Proso, Kodo, Italian, Little and Barnyard millet) was recorded with values ranging from to mg/100 g (Kulkarni et al., 1992). The ionisable iron content was 1.47, 1.50, 0.55, and 1.38 mg in Proso, Kodo, Italian, Little and Barnyard millet respectively. Similar range of values for iron and calcium in Barnyard millet viz., 1.27 to 1.50 mg, and to mg/100 g respectively was reported by Veena et al. (2005). Dietary fibre Dietary fiber, also known as roughage or bulk, includes all parts of plant foods that your body can't digest or absorb. Fiber are important for good health. Dietary fibers provide health benefits for many conditions including constipation, diverticular disease, colon cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. However, dietary fibers are only one factor involved in these conditions. Dietary fibre which is present as soluble and insoluble form is proved to play an important role in the management of metabolic disorders like diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, improve bowel motility and in turn reduce the incidence of colon cancer. Millets in general are rich in dietary fibre content (9 to 15%). It was reported that Barnyard millet recorded a highest proportion of soluble fibre of about per cent (Hadimani and Malleshi, 1993 and Veena et al., 2005), followed by Little and Kodo millets (5.7 and 5.2% respectively). Further, Proso and Foxtail millets were shown to contain lowest proportions of soluble fractions of dietary fibre (4.4 and 3.4% respectively). Millets as neutraceuticals Small millets are high in protein content than rice which is a staple food of south India. The protein content of millets range from 4.7 to12.3 mg. When compared to rice it is twice higher in the small millets. The recommended dietary allowance foe man and women are 60 and 50 g of protein per day. It is fulfilled by consuming 600 grams of small millets instead of 1000 grams of rice. Fig 2. Protein and calcium content of millets in comparision with staple rice and wheat Millets are also rich in phosphorus, iron and fibre which are essential for growth and development of human beings. The phosphorus content ranges from 188 to 290 mg/100g and iron from 0.5 to 9.3mg/100g wich is in the range of 1 to 4.9 mg/100g in case of cereals. Fibre Kheti ISSN:

4 in the range of 1.2 to 9 mg/100g which is higher when compared to major cereals which is in the range of 0.2 to 1.9 mg/ 100g. Fig 3. Nutrient composition of millets in comparison with rice and wheat Methods to Enhance Active Components (Nutrients) Manipulating the diet to get maximum level of (active components) nutrients Combination of millets rich in nutraceuticals Fortifying millets with active ingredients or nutrients By sprouting of food grains Changing food habits to natural type of diet. Conclusion Nutritive value of millets and minor millets should be given importance and millets in the diet will help us to make up the deficiency of some minerals. Type and quality of foods to be included in the diet should be based on need and health. References Anonymous, 1983, Annual Report, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR). Hyderabad, pp.1-4. Gopalan C, Rama Sastri BV and Balasubramani SC Nutritive value of Indian foods. National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR). Kheti ISSN:

5 Antony U, Sripriya G and Chandra TS Effect of fermentation on the primary nutrients in finger millet (Eleusine coracana). J. Agric. Food Chem., 44: Hadimani NA and Malleshi NG. 1993, Studies on milling, physico-chemical properties, nutrient composition and dietary fibre content of millets. J. Food Sci. and Tech., 30 (1): Kulkarni LR, Naik RK and Katarki PA Chemical composition of minor millets. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci., 5 (3) : Kumar KK and Parameshwaran PK Characterization of storage protein fromselected varieties of foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L) Beauv). J. Food and Agric., 77: Raghavendra B, Nagasampige MH and Ravikiran M Evaluation of nutraceutical properties of selected small millets J. Pharm. Bioallied Sci., 3(2): Ravindran G Seed proteins of millets: amino acid composition, proteinase inhibitors and in vitro digestibility. Food Chem., 44(1): Veena B, Chimmad BV, Naik RK and Shantakumar G. 2005, Physico-chemical and nutritional studies in barnyard millet. Karnataka J. Agril. Sci., 18 (1) : Kheti ISSN: