Life cannot be sustained without adequate nourishment

Man needs a wide range of nutrients to perform various functions in the body and to lead a healthy life. These nutrients are chemical substances which are present in the food we eat daily. This has provided a sound basis for planning well balanced diets in terms of foods habitually consumed by the community. Such information has helped to determine which foods are not consumed in enough amounts and how the present diets can be improved by including certain foodstuffs.

It may vary from country to country and within a large country like India, it may vary from one region to another.

Lifestyle and eating habits subsidize to each individuals overall health status. It is believed that increase stress, a hectic life style, and a diet poor in fermented foods has become a communal feature of modern life. This is to have stemmed in growing occurrences of diseases and poor health worldwide said by Markowitz and Bengmark, (2002).

Whole grains contain all parts of the grain viz.

, the endosperm, germ, and bran. Whole grains are ironic in nutrients and phytochemicals with identified health benefits. As reviewed by (Slavin, 2004), whole grains have high concentrations of dietary fibre, resistant starch, and oligosaccharides. They are also rich in antioxidants including trace minerals and phenolic compounds and these compounds have been linked to disease prevention. Other protective compounds present in whole grains includes phytate, phyto-oestrogens such as lignan, plant stanols and sterols, and vitamins and minerals. Epidemiological studies find that whole-grain consumption is protective against cancer, CVD, diabetes, and obesity.

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Whole grain feeding studies in human subjects showed improvements in biomarkers such as weight loss, blood-lipid improvement and antioxidant protection.

The production of fermented foods is one of the oldest food processing technologies known to man. The diversity of the population of India has given rise to a large number of traditional fermented foods which have been extensively reviewed (Soni and Sandhu, (1990), Achaya 1994).Cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum and minor millets like pearl millet and finger millet are important sources of dietary proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fibre for the people residing in Asian and African sub-continents (Blandinoet.al. 2003).

The major cereals and millets consumed as whole grains in India are wheat, sorghum, Pearl millet, finger millet and to some extent brown rice. These grains are the major source of nutrients in diets contributing to around 7.3-11.6 % protein, 1.3-5 % fat, 60-72 % carbohydrate, and 328 – 361 kcal of the daily energy intake (Gopalan et.al., 2004).

The foods which we commonly consume also contains tocopherols, carotenoids, phenolics and flavanoids, which serve as a good source of natural antioxidants (Namiki, 1990, Gunger and Sengual, 2008 and Asharaniet.al., 2010) and are reported to have health beneficial effects (Stanneret.al., 2004). Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin and includes both tocopherols and tocotrienols (Flohet.al., 1999). It has many biological functions especially as antioxidant that stops the production of reactive oxygen species (Herrera and Barbas, 2001), neuro-protective (Muller, 2010), inhibition of platelet aggregation (Dowd and Zheng, 1995), control of gene expression etc (Devaraj et.al., 2001). Carotenoids are important in human nutrition and health. They are valuable as antioxidants (Palozza and Krinsky, 1992), in the prevention of atherosclerosis in the maintenance of immune function (Hinds et.al., 1997), in the health of eyes (Beatty et.al., 1995) and some are precursors of vitamin A. Presence of carotenoids was reported in grains such as maize, wheat and sorghum (Christopher, 1981 and Julia et.al., 2004).

Cereals are used world-wide as staple food, they are considered to be one of the most important sources of dietary proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber for people all over the India. Most commonly cereals are utilized in combination with legumes to improve the overall protein quality of the fermented product. This combination can be replaced by the small seeded grains that are known as millets in breakfast food, convenience foods, and snack foods. The total production of millet grains of world was 762712 metric tons (FAO 2012).

Minor millets are small coarse of grains belonging to the group of forage grass called millet (Weber 1998), belongs to the family poaceae; most of the genera belongs to the sub-family panicoideae, that can grow in extreme ecological conditions (Seetharam et al., 1989). According to the archaeological and genetic studies most of the millets had their origin in the wide region of Asia and Africa (De, 1989; Dogget, 1989; Sakamoto, 1992; Weber, 1998). Minor crops are the best source of micronutrients; the bran layer of millets also consists of B-complex vitamins and rich in micronutrients. Even millets are rich in fiber content it has the capability to digest easily. There may be an enormous amount of fat present in the millet rather than the fatty acid (Daniel et.al., 2012).

Deficiency of micronutrients leads to several health problems, it retains the growth of physical and immune system. This is a common problem faced by almost all the developing countries (Kipkoriony Rutto, 2012). In African countries like Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, minor millets plays a major role and more than 40% of their food system occupied by minor millets (Basavaraj et.al., 2010). Minor millets not only have nutritional value but also tremendous medicinal uses. It is used in the treatment of difference diseases like Cancer, Leprosy, and Pneumonia etc., (Khouloud Bachae, et al., 2013).

Millet is a superior cereal with regard to nutritional quality and presents several health benefits (Krishnan et.al., 2011). It is a rich source of dietary fiber, calcium, oleic acid (25%) and linoleic acid (46%) (Rooney, 1978) and of phytochemicals with nutraceutical potential (Malleshiand Hadimani, 1999). Moreover, millet is a potent source of antioxidants, due to its phenolic content (Dykes & Rooney, 2006; Shahidi and Chandrasekara, 2013) and is a staple food substitute for celiac patients who require gluten-free cereal (Shahidi and Chandrasekara, 2013).

Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacaea) or Japanese millet or billion dollar grass is grown principally as a forage grass. It resembles barnyard grass (considered a weed in many places) and probably originated from it. Japanese millet is usually grown as a late season green feed in temperate climates with humid or sub humid conditions. It makes the most rapid growth of all millets under favourable weather conditions, occasionally producing ripe grain in 45 days after seeding. The growth habit of this annual grass is an erect plant 2-4feet tall with a panicle inflorescence made up of 5-15 sessile erect branches. Spiklets are brownish to purple and are borne on one side of each branch. Seeds are the slightly longer than wide and are larger than those of barnyard grass (Baker, 2008).

Barnyard millet is one of the hardiest millet, which is called by several other names viz., kuthiraivali (T), shama (H), shamula (M), sawank (T) and sama (G). Barnyard millet is a multipurpose crop which is cultivated for food and fodder. It can be cultivated in all types of soils and sustains adverse climatic conditions. Nutritionally too, barnyard millet is an important crop. It is a fair source of protein, excellent source of dietary fibre with good amounts of soluble and insoluble fractions. For the health conscious genre of the present world, minor millet especially barnyard millet is perhaps one more addition to the proliferating list of healthy foods, owing to its nutritionally superiority. It is springtime for potential minor millets like barnyard millet to be woven in the fabric of daily diet.

Food fermentations is an important technique in the developing countries where the lack of resources limits the use of recent techniques such as vitamin enrichment of foods and the use of energy and capital intensive processes for food preservation. Millet grains can substitute for the rice or wheat component for the development of fermented foods like idli or dosa. Black gram originated in India where it has been in cultivation from ancient times, is one of the most highly prized pulses of India. Black gram has a mucilaginous material which makes it a valuable ingredient in idli preparation. The chief proteins present in black gram are albumins, globulins and glutelins. Fenugreek is used both as an herb (the leaves) and as a spice (seed). It is cultivated worldwide as a semi-arid crop. It is frequently used in curry and also as a main ingredient in the idli preparation.

Idli and dosa is a traditional cereal / legume-based naturally fermented steamed product with a soft and spongy texture which is highly popular and widely consumed as a food item in India (Agrawal et al., 2000). Idli makes an important contribution to the diet as a source of protein, calories and vitamins, especially B-complex vitamins, compared to the raw unfermented ingredients (Srilakshmi, 2003). Idli also known as Rice cake is a traditional food of India. It is a favourite breakfast food in south India with spongy texture, attractive appearance, appetizing taste and flavour to get with its easy digestibility and good nutritive value contribute to its increasing popularity in all parts of India and also in other countries (Manay and Shadaksharaswamy, 2001). The present study was done to analyze the physical and chemical qualities of batter and barnyard millet incorporated idli with a view to determine the organoleptic acceptability.

Response surface methodology is a collection of statistical and mathematical techniques useful for developing, improving, optimizing processes and achieving the optimum conditions for desirable responses with a limited number of planned experiments, it also provides a mathematical model, which describes the relationships between the independent and dependent variables (Myers and Montgomery 1995).

The development of functional foods is a unique opportunity for improvement of the quality of food and to consumer health and well-being. Statistical design tools such as Response Surface Methodology (RSM) are quite effective and most suitable in optimizing the ingredient levels in products as well as the process parameters. The design uses a central composite design to fit a polynomial model by least-square technique (Wadikar et.al. 2008). The main advantage of the design is that it enables the study of one or more variables simultaneously in a single experimental design of practical size (Gupta et.al. 2008). Consumer has always preferred to have deep-fat fried products because of their unique flavour and texture. Incorporation of functional ingredients such as dietary fibre makes it more practical to impart the benefits. Almeida Domiguezet.al,. (1990) suggested snack food to serve as a vehicle for important nutrients while being readily accepted by the population.

Management of diabetes is dependent to a great extent on the affected person’s own abilities to carry out self-care in his daily lives, and patient education is considered an essential component of achieving this objective (Sivagnanam et.al., 2002).There is further evidence that people affected with the disease often have inadequate knowledge about the nature of diabetes, its risk factors and associated complications and that this lack of awareness may be the underlying factor affecting attitudes and practices towards its care. Diabetes education, with consequent improvement in knowledge, attitudes and skills, leads to better control of the disease, and is widely accepted to be an integral part of comprehensive diabetes care (Nicolucci et.al., 2000).

The glycemic index provides a measure of how quickly blood sugar levels (i.e. levels of glucose in the blood) rise after eating a particular type of food. The effects that different foods have on blood sugar levels vary considerably. The glycemic index estimates how much each gram of available carbohydrate (total carbohydrate minus fiber) in a food raises a person’s blood glucose level following consumption of the food, relative to consumption of pure glucose (Glycemic Research Institute. Retrieved, 2012).

The relationship between health care provider and patient is recognized to have an important influence on patient understanding and adherence (Stewart, 1995). Motivational interviewing has been recommended as a more skillful guiding approach to eliciting lifestyle change and promoting self-care (Rollnicket.al., 2008) and a recent systematic review concluded that it out-performs traditional advice-giving in 80% of studies (Walters et.al., 2002, Rubak et.al., 2005). Group interactions have been found to be effective in diabetes education and local chronic care staffs have indicated that this is the most practical approach in their very busy health centers (Greaves et.al., 2008).

Smith et.al., (2005) mentioned that food that have a low glycemic load can help in the treatment of diabetes. Substituting at least once per meal a food which has a low glycemic load for one with a higher values or combining a low glycemic load food with a high glycemic load food reduces the effect on blood glucose. In addition maintaining a healthy body weight and performing regular physical activity further reduces the effect of a high glycemic load diet. The possibility that high, long-term intake of carbohydrates that are rapidly absorbed as glucose may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes has been a long-standing controversy (Willett et.al., 2002).

Health education is a process that bridges the gap between health information and health practice. An important step in planning health education intervention is to identify predisposing factors like; knowledge, attitude, practice and different socio – demographic characters of patients. Health education is not an addition to treatment, but it is one of the treatment tools that has a great effect on enhancing the diabetic patients own abilities to carry out self – care through providing adequate knowledge changing their attitude, and empowering them with skills that are essential for better control of the disease (Nutbeam, 2000).

Management of diabetes is dependent to a great extent on the affected person’s own abilities to carry out self-care in his daily lives, and patient education is considered an essential component of achieving this objective (Sivagnanam et al., 2002).There is further evidence that people affected with the disease often have inadequate knowledge about the nature of diabetes, its risk factors and associated complications and that this lack of awareness may be the underlying factor affecting attitudes and practices towards its care. Diabetes education, with consequent improvement in knowledge, attitudes and skills, leads to better control of the disease, and is widely accepted to be an integral part of comprehensive diabetes care (Nicolucci et al., 2000).

The relationship between health care provider and patient is recognized to have an important influence on patient understanding and adherence (Stewart, 1995). Motivational interviewing has been recommended as a more skilful guiding approach to eliciting lifestyle change and promoting self-care (Rollnick et al., 2008) and a recent systematic review concluded that it out-performs traditional advice-giving in 80% of studies (Walters et al., 2002, Rubak et al., 2005). Group interactions have been found to be effective in diabetes education and local chronic care staffs have indicated that this is the most practical approach in their very busy health centers (Greaves et al., 2008).

A successful nutrition intervention should also include content and teaching strategies that are developmentally appropriate for the changes in the environment. Fun and interesting health and nutrition education activities will increase attention and motivation to learn and consequently change their health and dietary practices. In addition, changes in the physical environment (i.e. the school system) are conducive to promote positive behavioral outcomes related to nutrition in public (Eriksen et.al., 2003).