Miracle Grains Part 4: Millets Vs Rice Vs Wheat

Understandably, the staple for most of our ancestors was Millets and it was probably after the green revolution we ditched these Miracle grains in favor Rice, wheat, obesity, diabetes and malnutrition.

Yes... over next few articles i shall establish how the land which gave Yoga to the world for healthy living have managed to secure the title "Diabetes capital of the world". But in this article lets take few millets and compare that with Rice and Wheat. You can refer this article for the local name for these millets... I have primarily used Millet Network of India data and some of the other data available freely in internet to substantiate this. 

Barnyard Millet

(Hindi: Jhangora; Tamil: Kuthiravaali; Telugu: Odalu)

• Contains nearly 7 times minerals and nearly 50 times fiber and nearly 21 times Iron than Rice. 
• Contains nearly 3 times minerals and nearly 8 times fiber and nearly 3 times Iron than Wheat.
• Contains lesser carbohydrates than Wheat and Rice and has abundant Thiamin (Vitamin B1) which is not present in Rice and Wheat.

 Ragi / Finger Millet 

(Hindi: Mandua;  Tamil: Kelvargu;  Telugu: Ragulu;  Kannada:Ragi; Malayalam:  Koovarugu)

• Contains nearly 4.5 times minerals and nearly 18 times fiber and nearly 7.5 times calcium than Rice.
• Contains nearly 1.8 times minerals and nearly 3 times fiber and 8.4 times calcium than Wheat.
• Contains same amount of carbohydrates than Wheat and lesser than Rice and has abundant Thiamin (Vitamin B1) which is not present in Rice and Wheat.

Foxtail Millet 

(Hindi: Kangni; Tamil: Tenai; Telugu: Korra; Kannada:Navane; Malayalam: Thina)

• Contains nearly 1.8 times proteins, 5.5 times minerals and nearly 40 times fiber than Rice. 
• Contains nearly 2.2 times minerals and nearly 6.7 times fiber than Wheat.
• Contains lesser amount of carbohydrates than Wheat and rice and has maximum Thiamin (Vitamin B1) among all millets which is not present in Rice and Wheat.

As you can see Millets offer 40 times digestive fibre that of Rice, 7 to 8 times calcium that of Rice and wheat, 21 times Iron than Rice are available with low Glycemic Index which are organic. If man is a rational animal why would he not consume Millets as his staple diet?

Now i shall tell you a super secret which is out in the open, Finger Millet (Ragi) has almost 3 times the calcium (344mg against 120mg in milk) that is present in the milk. It would be astonishing if you know that our body can absorb only 30% of the calcium from milk which is about 36mg. So effectively Ragi offers close to 9 times more calcium for almost the same price. (A litre of milk costs about INR 30/- and a Kg of Ragi is about Rs. 35/-).

I shall continue this article in the next part about few more millets.

Article by Rags Gopalan...

PS; Image courtesy from millets.wordpress.com