Nutritional and functional profiling of major millets and its processed food products: A review

Abstract

Millets are cereal crops classified as minor grains in the Poaceae family. Millets have been an essential component of human diet for centuries. Beyond their nutritional advantages, they are drought resistant and can thrive in diverse climatic conditions. Millets are widely recognized as functional food due to their exceptional richness in nutritional components, bioactive compounds, antioxidant, antidiabetic and anticancer activity. This review exhibits the nutritional, functional and bioactive components of various millet-based finger millet (FM), pearl millet (PM) and sorghum products. However, a diverse range of millet-based products have been developed, including baked goods, beverages, flaked, puffed, extruded, and traditional Indian food items. Nutritional profiling of all these products revealed that millets products are rich in protein, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, phenolic compounds, etc. These attributes exhibit that millet promotes health and reduces risk of several diseases. It shows all the consequential properties to drive demand and acceptance of various millet-derived products. The future prospects of millet-based products involve in increasing awareness of their health benefits and promoting their incorporation for developing functional food products.