Impact of Millet Food on the Nutritional Status of Preschool Children in Coimbatore, tamil Nadu

Abstract

"Millets have great potential for being utilized as health food by virtue of their nutritional qualities. To study the effect of supplementation of multi-millet mix on the nutritional status of preschool children (age group of 4-6 years; n = 60) Thondamuthur block of Coimbatore district, India, was selected. Millets (kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet) were soaked at 80°C for 8hours, open steamed for 20°C and shade dried for moisture content of 14 per cent. The hydrothermal treatment of millets was dehulled in double chamber centrifugal dehuller. Which gave increased dehulling efficiency of 5.5% and 7% head rice recovery were recorded. The millets rice was pulversied into flour and the flour used for further development of various value added products. Multi-millet health mix was formulated using flours of wheat, kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, and finger millet with other ingredients (pulses & nuts) and their nutritional composition was analysed using standard procedures. The formulated mix contains 65.45 g carbohydrate, 11.46 g protein, 4.94 g fat, 4.94 g fibre, 4.07 g iron, 112 mg calcium, 268.52 mg phosphorus and 349 calorie of energy per 100g. The selected preschool children were divided into two groups. Group I served as the control group (n = 30) and group II as experimental group (n = 30) was fed with multi-millet health mix (25 g) in the form of porridge (75 ml) for 6 months period. Anthropometric and haemoglobin levels were assessed before and after supplementation. In preschool children of experimental group, an average increase in mean height (2.82 cm) and weight (2.64 kg) were observed. Given the positive effect of multi-millet health mix on improving the nutritional status of preschool children, it can be introduced as part of State nutrition programs and health food regime of health organizations and practitioners."