Nutraceutomics of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica L.): Insights

Setaria italica (L.), commonly known as foxtail millet, is a C4 model cereal with a genome sequence that is compact and completely annotated. In many parts of Asia and Africa, it serves as a primary food and feed source. In the present world, where urbanization and farmland scarcity is drastically increasing, there is an urgent need to switch to cereal crops that can be grown with less inputs, consume limited resources, withstand adverse weather conditions, and provide the majority of the human diet's essential nutrients. Under these conditions, foxtail millet is an ideal cereal crop that has the potential to significantly contribute to international efforts to improve food and nutrition security. Foxtail millet grains, which are gluten-free, are an excellent dietary staple because of their high protein, fiber, carbohydrate, calcium, zinc, iron, vitamin, and lipid content. The therapeutic benefits of foxtail millet include antihyperglycemic, antioxidative, antihyperlipidemic, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive activities and hence are strongly recommended that this grass family member be incorporated into a person's diet on a regular basis. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the nutraceutomics of the foxtail millet and the molecular efforts employed to improve the nutritional quality along with the traditional culinary applications of foxtail millet.