Effect of incorporation of Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) on the antimicrobial, ACE inhibitory, antioxidant and antidiabetic potential of a milkmillet composite probiotic fermented product

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of incorporation of finger millet on anti-microbial, ACE inhibitory, antioxidant and antidiabetic potential of milk-millet composite product.  Malted, heated finger millet flour was incorporated in the milk @20%. The mix was fermented using culture comprising of Streptococcus thermophilus MTCC 5460 and probiotic strain Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463 @ 2%. Product without finger millet was the control. Products were evaluated for antimicrobial, ACE inhibitory, antioxidant and antidiabetic potential using standard procedures. Incorporation of finger millet significantly (P<0.05) improved the antimicrobial, antioxidant and antidiabetic activity of the composite product. The product showed a significantly (P<0.05) higher antimicrobial activity against all test pathogens in comparison to control. The antioxidant activity of composite food and control were 95.59 % and 52.37 % respectively. Antidiabetic potential measured in terms of α-amylase inhibition and α-glucosidase inhibition revealed that incorporation of finger millet significantly improved the α-glucosidase inhibition (69.89 %) in comparison to control (51.89%), whereas the α-amylase inhibition was not significant. The ACE inhibitory activity of composite product and control were found to be 51.54 and 51.11% respectively, which did not differ significantly. Incorporation of finger millet adds to the functional value of resulted composite food. The results of this study opens promising prospects for use of such composite product as functional food.