Let’s see Medicinal benefits of Millets by -Erakina

Introduction to Millets

Food is a basic and demanded commodity in the market. The basic needs are food, clothing, and shelter. The phrase “Food is medicine and medicine is food” is a golden phrase that is true. Likewise today we are going to see about Millets and some facts about them. 

Millets

A bowl full of millets

• Millet is a crop that is smaller in size but is used for both animals and people. Many millets are fed to birds with love and passion. The points to know about cultivating and harvesting millets are as follows,
• Millets are a crop that is grown from plants that are enriched with many nutrients a person needs. They are one of the foods that birds eat. This crop is the only thing that is edible by both birds and humans. The nutrition of millet can overtake rice nutrition because of the presence of Magnesium, Calcium, phosphorus, and zinc.
• People who are allergic to wheat can replace them with millets. Many Indian states like Tamilnadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, etc. grow millets. 

A well-grown millet plant with tiny seeds

• A millet needs a climate condition of warm temperature and no frost. The warm season is used for millet reproduction. The planting takes place from mid-June to mid-July. They can grow in loamy soils and are able to withstand. But it doesn’t stand on logged watery soil. They take around 60 days for their maturity stage. 
• The cultivation site should get rid of weeds before planting. The food crop has been present since 6000 B.C which is said to be the first crop mankind ever had. Every millet plant requires a warm temperature and a normal amount of natural fertilizers. They don’t need much irrigation for their growth compared to other food crops.

Medicinal Benefits

Millet seeds in a plate

A bowl of millet can provide us with the necessary energy that a person needs a day. Let’s see some of the various health benefits of Millet in the following.

• Antioxidants

The presence of phenolic compounds and ferulic acids in Millet acts as an antioxidant that helps fight the stress of our body. An antioxidant is used for reducing the free radical formation which leads to depression and hypertension. With the help of millet, we can reduce this and we are able to increase the heart health of patients. They also act as inflammatory and help in healing wounded skin.

• Blood Sugar

People with diabetes often need to have foods that don’t spike their blood sugar levels. So for that, people always choose fiber foods in their diet. The presence of dietary fiber in millet and the low glycemic index can be helpful in diet and also helps diabetic patients. Several experiments conducted on people who take rice and millet have differences in their blood sugar levels. 

• Cholesterol

Body fat is increasing because of bad cholesterol and fat. So people do exercise and go on a diet. By adding millet to their diet, people can have tasty food and as well as may lose weight. The fiber content can help reduce the constipation of food and helps reduce weight. 

• Digestion

The presence of good fiber in millet can improve gut health and can reduce constipation. This will lead to good bowel functioning, bloating, etc. So it does help in the digestion of food particles.

There are many types of millet like major and minor like

• Pearl
• Foxtail
• Proso
• Kodo
• Fonio

The pearl millet is said to be consumed most and sold well in the markets. A single cup of millet contains nutrients like: 

• Calories
• Carbs
• Fiber
• Protein
• Magnesium
• Iron etc.

These are some of the facts about Millet and their medicinal benefits that help people to lead a healthy life. By using millet we can make lots of dishes like Dosa, Burger, Bhelpuri, Porridge, etc. Kids eating millet can boost their health and activeness and will have a strong immunity to fight disease and live a healthy life. So let’s add millets to our diet and improve our body health.

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Mukesh Kumar U M

15/04/2022