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Undernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which\ud requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all\ud required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are\ud traditional foods, and climate smart nutritious crops, which are grown across Africa and Asia, they\ud have not been mainstreamed like rice, wheat, and maize. Diversifying staples with millets can\ud potentially provide more macro and micro nutrients, compared to the mainstream crops. However,\ud there is little known scientific evidence to prove millets’ efficacy on growth. Therefore, a systematic\ud review and meta-analysis was conducted to collate evidence of the benefits of millets in improving\ud the growth of children. Eight eligible randomized feeding trials were included in the meta-analysis.\ud Results from the randomized effect model showed a significant effect (p < 0.05) of millet-based diets\ud on mean height (+28.2%) (n = 8), weight (n = 9) (+26%), mid upper arm circumference (n = 5) (+39%)\ud and chest circumference (n = 5) (+37%) in comparison to regular rice-based diets over for the period of\ud 3 months to 4.5 years, which was based on largely substituting rice with millets. When an enhanced\ud and diverse diet was served, replacing rice with millet had only minimal growth improvement on\ud chest circumference (p < 0.05). The quality assessment using GRADE shows that the evidence used\ud for this systematic review and meta-analysis had moderate quality, based on eight scoring criteria.\ud These results demonstrate the value of adding millet as the staple for undernourished communities.\ud Further understanding of the efficacy of millets on growth in a wider range of diets is important\ud to develop appropriate dietary programs and improve the nutritional status of various age groups\ud across Africa and Asia.

Calcium deficiency during child growth leads to osteoporosis in later stages of life. Finger\ud millet is one of the calcium dense foods, with three times the level of calcium than milk, and\ud the only cereal that contains high calcium content which is consistent across different varieties\ud (364 � 58 mg/100 g). Thus, finger millet has potential for addressing calcium deficiency naturally.\ud This study aimed to determine the retention and impact of finger millet calcium on bone turnover\ud through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Three human studies were eligible for systematic\ud review. Of these, only two were eligible for meta-analysis to assess the retention of calcium in\ud children of 9 to 12 years. One study on bone turnover markers was not used in the meta-analysis\ud as at least two studies are required to conduct meta-analysis. Due to the lack of complete data\ud only four studies were eligible for meta-analysis to assess the in vitro bioavailability of calcium\ud from unprocessed and a range of different types of processed finger millet. The result shows that\ud there was significant retention (p < 0.05) of 23.4 � 2.9% calcium from finger-millet-based diet which\ud could help bone accretion during child growth if finger-millet-based diet is consumed. The bone\ud turnover marker study shows that the resorption of calcium reduced by 28% and 47% among peri\ud and post-menopausal women respectively after feeding the nutria mixed grain ball. However, there\ud is no significant change in bone formation marker. Depending on the type of processing, calcium\ud bioavailability either increased or decreased. One in vitro study showed that calcium bioavailability\ud from finger millet was 28.6% when boiled, whereas three studies on processing show that certain\ud processing can double the calcium bioavailability to 61.4%. Irrespective of the type of processing,\ud finger millets contribute to high calcium retention and extremely high bioavailable calcium and could\ud be useful for healthy growth and in dealing with complications related to calcium deficiency.

Millets (including sorghum) are known to be highly nutritious besides having a low carbon footprint and the ability to survive in high temperatures with minimal water. Millets are widely recognised as having a low Glycaemic Index (GI) helping to manage diabetes. This systematic review and meta-analyzes across the different types of millets and different forms of processing/cooking collated all evidences. Of the 65 studies that were collected globally, 39 studies with 111 observations were used to analyze GI outcomes and 56 studies were used to analyze fasting, post-prandial glucose level, insulin index and HbA1c outcomes in a meta-analysis. It is evident from the descriptive statistics that the mean GI of millets is 52.7 ± 10.3, which is about 36% lower than in typical staples of milled rice (71.7 ± 14.4) and refined wheat (74.2 ± 14.9). The descriptive, meta and regression analyses revealed that Job's tears, fonio, foxtail, barnyard, and teff were the millets with low mean GI (69). A meta-analysis also showed that all millets had significantly (p < 0.01) lower GI than white rice, refined wheat, standard glucose or white wheat bread except little millet which had inconsistent data. Long term millet consumption lowered fasting and post-prandial blood glucose levels significantly (p < 0.01) by 12 and 15%, respectively, in diabetic subjects. There was a significant reduction in HbA1c level (from 6.65 ± 0.4 to 5.67 ± 0.4%) among pre-diabetic individuals (p < 0.01) who consumed millets for a long period. Minimally processed millets were 30% more effective in lowering GI of a meal compared to milled rice and refined wheat. In conclusion, millets can be beneficial in managing and reducing the risk of developing diabetes and could therefore be used to design appropriate meals for diabetic and pre-diabetic subjects as well as for non-diabetic people for a preventive approach.

The ‘food-system divide’ – which is rarely talked about, let alone challenged – is one of the biggest hindrances to achieving a healthy population and sustainable and viable agricultural systems in developing countries. For decades, the majority of investments, whether on R&D, or big company investment, or policy support, or product development or even development aid, have been funnelled into just three major crops: rice, wheat and maize. These ‘Big 3’ crops provide 50% of the world’s calories and protein. As a result, their value chains are well developed and supported, making it very difficult to ‘mainstream’ other foods. The need for greater diversity in diets and on-farm is well known. Meeting that need will require mainstreaming and ensuring the viability of more foods. This should not be tackled with just any food but with food that is ‘good for you (nutritious and healthy), good for the planet (environmentally sustainable) and good for the farmer (viable and climate smart)’; that is our definition of Smart Food. The Smart Food initiative aims to learn from the successes of the ‘Big 3’ and create the ‘Big 5’ and eventually the ‘Big 7’, and so on. Smart Food will focus especially on foods that can be eaten as staples. This way, we will have a major impact on some of the leading global issues. As Smart Food is good for you and the planet and the farmer, these three qualities can in unison contribute to healthy people and sustainable and viable agriculture.