Fibre of one’s being: Millets turning into super foods of the future

The Central Government is focusing on making millets the “super foods” of the future considering the fact that a shift in food habits and increase in a sedentary lifestyle have resulted in a dual burden of diseases. Even in the second version of Poshan Abhiyaan, the focus is on diet diversity, food fortification, leveraging traditional systems of knowledge and popularising the use of millets.

Poshan Abhiyaan was launched on March 8, 2018, with an aim to achieve improvement in nutritional status of adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers in a time-bound manner by adopting a synergised and result-oriented approach.

Recently, experts from across the globe and members of the industry participated in the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the AP Shinde Symposium Hall, NASC Complex, New Delhi. One of the sessions was centered on “Research, Innovations and Sustainability” in which it was highlighted that awareness, innovations, robust market integration and supply chain should be the area of focus to promote the consumption of millets.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India CEO Kamala Vardhana Rao was of the view that millets should now be included in daily food items like bread, biscuits, noodles, chocolates, etc.

Stakeholders noted that wild varieties of millets were very resistant, but needed to be studied well. They shared that millets were in high demand and different packaging solutions were being researched upon to increase their shelf life. Other experts added that greater awareness on health at different levels needed to be created. They stressed on the need of more research on yield management. For enriching soil fertility, intercropping with millets was suggested. It was also pointed out that marketing was crucial for the promotion of millets and millennial consumers needed to be targeted to enhance demand.

The prophylactic and therapeutic benefits of millets were discussed in the session moderated by Justice D Seshadri Naidu, Former Judge, Bombay High Court with the focus on consumer behaviour, right method of consumption with innovation across the whole value chain. Dr M Srinivas, Director, AIIMS, Delhi, mentioned that phytonutrients present in millets could be very helpful with therapeutic benefits.

Nutrition awareness strategies under Mission Poshan 2.0 aim to develop sustainable health and well-being through regional meal plans to bridge dietary gaps. Further, greater emphasis is being given on the use of millets for preparation of hot cooked meals and take home rations (not raw rations) at Anganwadi centres for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children below six years of age as millets have high nutrient content, which includes protein, essential fatty acid, dietary fibre, B-vitamins, minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid and other micro-nutrients, thereby helping to tackle anemia and other deficiencies common among women and children.