Nutrients, antinutrients & bioaccessible mineral content (invitro) of pearl millet as influenced by milling.

Pearl millet is an underutilized grain crop commonly used as whole flour for traditional food preparation and hence confined to traditional consumers and to people of lower economic strata. In this study two commercially available pearl millet varieties (Kalukombu & MRB) obtained from the local market were milled into whole flour, semi refined flour & bran rich fraction. These milling fractions were evaluated for nutrients, antinutrients and mineral bioaccessibility. The bran rich fraction, a by product of flour milling contained significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher ash content (3.3 & 3.5 g/100 g in K & MRB respectively). Minerals like phosphorus, calcium and antinutrients like oxalates, phytates, were found mainly distributed in the bran fraction. The nutrient content of semi-refined flour was comparable to whole flour except for the fat content (1.3%). Due to partial separation of the bran fraction, semi refined flour was low in antinutrients which improved its mineral bioaccessibility making it nutritionally superior.