Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for human food and as fodder. The health benefits of millets are such that it treats coronary artery disorder, helps in weight loss, reduces risk of colon cancer, helps to decrease high blood pressure, helps in preventing Celiac disease, controls diabetes, good source of antioxidants, helps in slowing down muscle degradation, aids in sleep, helps in relieving menstrual cramps, aids breast milk production, improves skin elasticity.
Millet is counted on around the world to provide basic nutrition for many developing nations. Every 100 grams of millets contain 378 calories of energy, 4.2 grams of total fat out of which saturated fat is 0.7 grams, total carbohydrate content is 73 grams, dietary fibre is 8.5 grams, protein- content is 11 grams, folate is 85 mcg, niacin is 4.720 mg, Pantothenic acid is 0.848 mg, Riboflavin is 0.290 mg, Thiamine is 0.421 mg, Vitamin B6 is 0.384 mg, Vitamin E 0.05 mg, Tocopherol alpha is 0.05 mg, Vitamin K is 0.9 mcg, Calcium is 1%, Iron content is 17%, Copper is 38%,Magnesium is 28%, Manganese is 82%, Phosphorus is 28%,Potassium is 4%, Selenium is 4%,Zinc is 11%.
In India, millets have been mentioned in some of the oldest Yajurveda texts, identifying foxtail millet (Priyanka), Barnyard millet (aanava) and black finger millet (shyaamaka), thus indicating that millet consumption was very common, pre-dating to the Indian Bronze Age (4,500BC). Millets, however, lack the nutrients critically important for a person’s body.
In view of the high nutritional values of the Millets available, the Unison Agrico, through ZIGMO established in 2013 under the guidelines ICAR and the Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering Bhopal and its Principal Scientist Dr S Bala Subramanian Singathirulan manufactures and supplies a wide variety of the millets Breakfast and nutritional snacks. They manufacture all our food products in adherence with the set guidelines, which are high on nutrition and do not contain artificial preservatives.
Krishi Jagran held a discussion with one of the partners of the startup, Shri Anurag and was impressed that the coming generation shall be eating breakfast full of nutritional Millets.
