Utilization of underutilized grains in regional foods for improved health and nutritional status of the rural Punjabi women

Millets have great potential due to their high nutritional content, gluten free, and low glycemic index properties. Due to their high dietary fiber content, proteins with balanced amino acid profile, many essential minerals, some vitamins, and antioxidants, these can be considered as ‘Nutri Cereals’. However, due to the changing lifestyle, they are now considered as ‘Forgotten grains’ especially in the Punjabi diets. Due to increasing incidence of diabetes among rural women of Punjab, there is a need to develop foods that mimic the regional diets and can be conveniently adopted by people. The present study was undertaken to modify the commonly consumed traditional recipes of Punjab into the low glycemic index foods and investigate their effect on pre diabetic rural women. The modified foods i.e. dalia, missa parantha and chapati showed higher overall acceptance when compared to traditional preparations. These foods products had higher protein(12-17g/100g) and dietary fibre(12-15g/100g) content. The modified products had low glycemic index i.e. 39, 44 and 41 for dalia, missa parantha and chapati, respectively and with a low glycemic load. The dietary intervention on pre-diabetic rural women improved the nutritional profile (p<0.05) showing a positive effect of the modified foods on the blood profile of the subjects.