Fatigued to the core? Try a serving of millet ugali

Millet is a broad term for a larger family of cereals that bear small seeds. These nutritious grains originated in East Asia and have since spread far and wide.

This may be largely attributed to the benefit of flourishing in areas that are prone to drought, thus providing a reliable source of nourishment in arid and semi-arid parts of the world.

Red millet and sorghum are introduced very early on in our diet in the form of porridge as nursing mothers are encouraged to consume it for increased milk production and to aid their healing.

Infants are also weaned off with porridge, usually with added sugar to improve its palatability, due to the combination of its digestibility and nutritional content.

Some adults may prefer fermented millet porridge, which has a distinct sharp, tangy flavour. As an interesting side note, millet is also used to brew beer, either in the home or commercially. Millet may also be offered as a main meal in the form of ugali.

In some parts of Western Kenya, it is not unusual to eat dark millet ugali as opposed to the relatively less nutritious ugali that is made from maize meal.

Immune system

Millet is a rich source of the B vitamins, particularly B3 (niacin), B9 (folic acid) and B6 (pyridoxine). These are crucial for producing energy, and play a key role in immune and nervous system function.

Millet is also a source of the minerals calcium, for bone and teeth formation; iron, crucial for oxygen transportation in the body; potassium; magnesium; and zinc, all of which are vital for cell function.

One of the advantages of millet is that, unlike wheat, which is the most common grain used to make breads and other carbohydrate-based components of meals, it is gluten-free.

Gluten is a protein that is present in wheat that negatively affects people with coeliac disease, an auto-immune condition in the small intestine (that is to say, one’s own immune system mistakenly identifies one’s own body as a foreign organism and attacks it).

This results in poor absorption of nutrients, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps, which can be debilitating. The key to managing this condition, therefore, is prevention in the form of avoiding gluten in the diet.

A host of other grains that have gained popularity in health food circles include quinoa and spelt. Quinoa was a sacred crop for the Incas. This indigenous wisdom was perhaps unbeknownst to the Incas in our scientific terms, but quinoa provides essential amino acids, which refers to those that cannot be produced in the body and must be obtained from the diet.

Quinoa is also a source of the minerals phosphorous, magnesium, iron, as well as a source of fibre. Its texture makes it a nutritious alternative to white rice.

Amaranth

Another highly regarded grain is amaranth, which, similarly to quinoa, is traced back to an ancient meso-American civilisation, but this time, the Aztecs. Amaranth is a particularly good protein source and, like millet, is gluten free.

It is also a good source of lysine, an amino acid that, in addition to being a building block of protein in the form of enzymes, antibodies and hormones, is significant to calcium absorption.

Like quinoa, amaranth also provides iron. The leaves of quinoa and amaranth may also be eaten as a vegetable, thus rendering the whole plant highly nutritious.