Abstract
Good nutrition during a child's early years lays a strong foundation of health for the rest of its life. Yet in India, there is widespread prevalence of undernourishment among children below 5 years of age. Within the Indian context, small millets have great potential as a healthy food to address this challenge by the virtue of their nutritional qualities. However, there are many problems with the current processing technology for small millets, whereas the use of value‐added products was minimal. To address this, an assessment of existing small millet processing machinery was undertaken, and a double chamber centrifugal dehuller was developed, which had higher recovery of dehulled unpolished millets and met requirements at the village and enterprise levels. To demonstrate the health benefits of consuming value‐added small millets, a study of supplementation of multi‐millet health mix on the nutritional status of primary schoolchildren was conducted in Thondamuthur Block of Coimbatore District, India. Multi‐millet health mix was formulated from kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, finger millet, and wheat with the inclusion of pulses. It contained 65.45‐g carbohydrate, 11.46‐g protein, 4.94‐g fat, 4.94‐g fibre, 4.07‐mg iron, 112‐mg calcium, 268.52‐mg phosphorus, and 349 calories of energy per 100 g. The study indicated that there was a significant increase in height, weight, and haemoglobin level of the schoolchildren who regularly consumed the formulated multi‐millet health mix. The improved huller and value‐added food product developed can be feasible options for improving nutrition security and livelihoods through increased use of small millets.
Highlights
Millets are important food crops in developing countries and recognized as high‐energy nutritious food that can help in reducing malnutrition, nourishing the population, and preventing and curing lifestyle‐related health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity
One focused on the development of improved millet processing equipment, and the other focused on value addition through developing multi‐millet health mix and studying the effect of its supplementation on the growth of primary schoolchildren
It was noted that there was an increment of haemoglobin level in the experimental group as compared with control, indicating that supplementation of millet–pulse‐based health mix improved haemoglobin level in primary schoolchildren
Summary
Millets are important food crops in developing countries and recognized as high‐energy nutritious food that can help in reducing malnutrition, nourishing the population, and preventing and curing lifestyle‐related health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity. A subset of millets, offer better nutrition with various micronutrients, high protein, high dietary fibre, and low glycemic index when compared with mainstream cereals like paddy rice and wheat. They have a well‐balanced amino acid profile and are good sources of calcium, phosphorous, and iron. Owing to the cultivation and nutritional significance of small millets in India, research outlined in the subsequent sections was undertaken with two primary purposes. One focused on the development of improved millet processing equipment, and the other focused on value addition through developing multi‐millet health mix and studying the effect of its supplementation on the growth of primary schoolchildren. Feeding trials were carried out to understand the effect of value‐added small millets on the nutrition of primary schoolchildren
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