Millets as an alternative diet for gluten-sensitive individuals: A critical review on nutritional components, sensitivities and popularity of wheat and millets among consumers

ABSTRACT

Wheat is a widely consumed crop across the world. Its flavour, aroma, and taste has been successful in attracting people to include this cereal as a part of their staple diet. However, wheat gluten protein primarily consisting of gliadin and glutenin limits their consumption in certain susceptible population. Various gluten disorders that has been associated with their consumption suggests the introduction of gluten-free breads and other baked products in the diet. However, the structural, functional, and rheological properties offered by gluten to the dough could not be replaced, and hence, this study suggests the use of millets as an alternative diet. Millets not only protect from gluten sensitivities but also provide all other essential micro- and macronutrients required for the growth and metabolism of the body. They also hold potential in eradicating the malnutrition owning to their high nutritional, phenolic, and other antioxidant elements, indicating their probability to help in achieving a major sustainable goal related to good health and well-being. Despite offering a wide variety of health benefits, the consumer acceptability of millets is quite low at the moment. This paper is a wake-up call for the researchers and farmers to gear up in popularizing millets and their associated products and in improving the limitations associated with the shelf life of certain millets. Different physical processing technologies in the production of traditional and modern millet-based food products are also discussed in this paper, providing an overview of how various major millets can be used in promoting the health security with lesser dependency on environmental conditions for their growth and production.

KEYWORDS:

• Wheat gluten
• gliadins and glutenins
• gluten senstivity
• millet based diet
• sustainable goal
• malnutrition

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Purva Asrani: Conceptualization, writing of original draft, and supervision; Ansheef Ali: Writing, visualization, and provision of resources; Keshav Tiwari: Writing and provision of resources.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not for profit sectors.