With burden of lifestyle-induced diseases going up significantly in the country, International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has come up with a prescription – tap sorghum and millets to exploit namkeen-eating habit of people. It has got numbers to support its argument. The snack food market is put at $2 billion a year.

Dr William Dar, Director-General of Icrisat said that NutriPlus Knowledge programme (NPK) had come out with recipes that could attract this huge market.

“NPK-developed snacks are made with flour from sorghum and millet; cereals with a higher nutrition value than rice and wheat. Sorghum and millet have plenty of qualities – they are rich in dietary fibre especially resistant starch and hence are diabetic friendly, are gluten free, rich in antioxidants, vitamins and in nutrients such as iron and phosphorus,” he said.

This menu would go a long way in reducing disease burden, put at $237 billion by 2013 by World Health Organisation, in the country, he said issuing a statement to mark the World Heart Day on Wednesday.

“Change in life style and diets especially for the urban population are largely to blame for increasing diseases. With rising incomes, people tend to eat more but not necessarily better,” he said.

In 2008, over 52 lakh people died in India of non-communicable diseases cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes and cancer. “These diseases caused more than half of all deaths with cardiovascular diseases accounting for 24 per cent of all deaths,” he said.

“In addition to introducing better, healthier and safer fast food for consumers, sorghum and millet snacks will create new markets for these crops. This market opportunity could help link poor farmers to the agro-food industry, ultimately increasing their incomes and reducing poverty,” he said.

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