Effect of Processing on Antinutritional and Carbohydrate Fractions of Browntop Millet

The mortality and morbidity due to non-communicable diseases are on the rise. Millets are the one-stop solution for ensuring food, nutrition and agricultural security. Due to their low glycemic index, high dietary fibre and nutritional content, they are the best alternative to keep lifestyle disorders at bay. Among millets, browntop millet is the least explored and the nutrients found in browntop millet are abundant and can help with a variety of health issues including diabetes but it also contains antinutrients that hinder their absorption. Therefore, in the present study, the most common processing techniques used by Indian families like soaking for 12 and 24 h, germination for 12, 24, 36, and 48h, and pressure cooking for 10 minutes were studied regarding their influence on antinutritional components, antioxidant properties and carbohydrate fractions of browntop millet. The results revealed that soaking and germination significantly affected the phytates, oxalates, tannins, starch digestibility and predicted glycemic index of browntop millet. The comparative examination of nine treatments revealed that the browntop millet sample soaked for 24 hours and germinated for 36 hours had an adequate reduction in phytates by 47.96% from 368.33 to 191.66 mg/100g and oxalates by 41.99% from 4.12 to 2.39 mg/100g and the starch digestibility was 75.67% without exceeding the glycemic score of 55. Soaking and germination significantly decreased total starch content and increased total, reducing and non-reducing sugars of browntop millet samples. Nevertheless, 24h soaking and 36h germination (BTM 7) was found with an optimal decrease in antinutrients while maintaining the low glycemic index of browntop millet flour. Therefore, 24h soaking and 36h germination (BTM 7) can be used for the development of various hypoglycemic food products.