First millet-meals scientific study in schools shows millets boost child growth by 50%
(69).png)
Figure: Children eating millet meals at school. Photo: Liam Wright, ICRISAT
ICRISAT News
New Delhi, 18 December: Findings from a recently published three-month feeding study with 1,500 children in Karnataka suggest that millet-based mid-day meals can increase relative growth by 50%. Children rated the meals, which were designed by scientists and chefs and included little millet as a rice substitute, over 4.5 on 5 for taste.
The findings of the study were released jointly by Prof Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, and Dr Ashok Dalwai, Chair, Empowered Body, Doubling Farmers’ Income, Government of India, in New Delhi on Wednesday. The results were presented at the Tasting India Symposium later in the day.
“This is an example of not only a science-backed nutrition solution, but also a link between agriculture and nutrition. It is important now that we achieve mainstream consumption of millets and that they are not just for the elite,” said Prof Ramesh Chand.
Call to policy makers
The study’s authors have called for policies that (1) Follow the lessons learnt on how to include millets into meals; (2) Create a level playing field for the pricing and availability of millets (through Minimum Support Price (MSP), Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) and feeding programs (MDMs, ICDS) that will benefit from not only including millets, but also from the approach taken to introduce them; (3) Go one step further and select millets by varieties and whole grain (not polished), ensuring maximum nutritional value and impact and (4) Promote millets in positive fun ways.
Views: 328