Role of Millets in Promoting Health and Resilience: A Review

Millets are the small-seeded, underexploited, sacred grains of the family Poaceae. They have been utilized from time immemorial with great significance and are widely accepted owing to their promising health benefits. Millets are often referred to as the future super foods. High-yielding varieties such as wheat and rice were given priority after the emergence of green revolution which gradually limited millet cultivation in turn their consumption in India. Aiming at increasing production and consumption of millets, UNO declared 2023 as the ‘international year of millets’. In this article, an attempt is made to discuss the nutritional and functional properties of millets such as great millet, pearl millet, finger millet, foxtail millet, kodo millet, little millet, barnyard millet and proso millet based on around 60 articles between 2000 and 2024 from Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations [FAO], National Institute of Nutrition [NIN], Indian Institute of Millets Research [IIMR], ASSOCHAM, Scopus, WoS, Google Scholar, Crossref, PubMed, Indian Journals.com, Creative Commons and DOAJ etc. This review aims to succinctly provide an overview of the health-promoting potential of various millets. This review also provides crucial information on the global and Indian scenarios of millet production, consumption, the prevalence of obesity, the beneficial role of millets, millet promoting campaigns of various states in India and suggests measures to improve millet consumption. Hence this review endeavors to highlight the nutritional and health benefits of the underutilized millets. Literature analysis revealed that millets are highly beneficial in terms of their nutritional sufficiency since they are extremely rich in macro and micronutrients such as proteins, complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and a splendid source of dietary fibers. Millets possess anti-hyperglycemic, anti-cholesterol, anti-hypertensive, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anthropometric effects. Their gluten-free property averts celiac disease and IBS. They possess significant neutraceutical, prebiotic and alkaline farming properties. Hence, the substitution of millets with the present major staples viz., rice and wheat could be useful evidently in promoting health and resilience.