Research Projects

Millets and legumes were dietary staples in Southern India during the Sangam Neolithic period (2800-1200 BCE). They were served as a healthy breakfast or lunch and were considered a storehouse of nutrients. However, millets have turned into fodder crops, and their therapeutic value is still unknown. Traditional millet recipes, such as finger millet Eleucine coracana, kodo millet Paspalum scrobiculatum, proso millet Panicum miliaceum, foxtail millet Setaria italica, little millet Panicum sumatrance, and barnyard millet Echinocloa frumentacea, have been fermented to alleviate anti-nutrient effects and potentially aid in gut flora growth.

Millet traditional recipes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are prepared through steaming, fermentation, and other methods. These recipes include pazhaya sadham, idli, dosa, uthappam, appam, puttu, kolukattai, koozh, kuzhi paniyaram, adai, and athirasam. However, their nutrient contribution and health benefits need scientific substantiation. The project aims to map heritage millet recipes from five major states, develop a nutritional quality matrix, validate hypoglycemic, satiety-inducing, and probiotic activity, assess physicochemical and microstructure characteristics of millet starch, and validate these recipes using in vitro and in vivo models. The results will include a white paper on "Heritage Millet Recipes of India," technical know-how of traditional recipes, nutritional-antinutritional profiles, and scientific validation results.