For strong bones

It contains high levels of phosphorus³. Phosphorus is essential for bone growth and development in young children.

For pregnant women

Pearl millet contains high amounts of iron and folic acid. Folic acid (folate/vitamin B9) helps to reduce chances of neural tube defects such as spina bifida in the unborn child. Iron is responsible for preventing anemia in the mother.

For sugar and weight control

Pearl millet contains higher amounts of fiber than rice and wheat¹. Its high fiber content causes it to digest slowly, releasing glucose at a slower rate as compared to other foods, thus maintaining healthy blood sugar levels for a long period of time². The high fiber content in pearl millet also helps to curb hunger for longer, indirectly contributing to weight loss.

References

Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K and Venkaiah K. 2017. Indian food composition table, National Institute of Nutrition. 1-578.
Thathola A, Srivastava S, Singh G. 2011. Effect of foxtail millet (Setariaitalica) supplementation of serum glucose, serum lipids and glycosylated haemoglobin in Type 2 diabetics. Diabetologia Croatica 40:23-28.
Kumar A, Metwal M, Kaur S, Gupta AK, Puranik S, Singh S, Singh M, Gupta S, Babu BK, Sood S and Yadav R. 2016. Nutraceutical value of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.), and their improvement using omics approaches. Frontiers in plant science. 7:934. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00934

Uses of Pearl millet

Pearl Millet as Feed

Pearl millet has multiple uses in the dryland regions where cultivation of other crops are limited. Pearl millet grain is suitable as poultry feed and can significantly bring down the cost of the feed. Several research studies have proved that pearl millet can be substituted for corn in feed formulations.

Pearl Millet also offers dry-season forage. Some dual purpose varieties can provide both grain and high quality forage. Some hybrids of napier grass and pearl millet is a perennial forage crop. ICRISAT and ILRI tested six dual purpose varieties of pearl millet and growth performance of sheep fed their residues in Niger and the study proved that the stover of the dual purpose varieties are of better quality compared to local varieties.

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Pearl Millet in Brewing

Similar to sorghum, pearl millet has also been traditionally brewed to produce alcoholic beverages in Africa. “Uphutsu” in Mozambique and “Oyokpo”, a brew from Nigeria are some examples of traditional alcoholic beer brewed from pearl millet. In India, the craft brewery, Great State Ale Works produce millet ale with 56% pearl millet.

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