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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Jan 5;14(1):225.
doi: 10.3390/nu14010225.

Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Seetha Anitha  1   2 , David Ian Givens  3 , Kowsalya Subramaniam  4 , Shweta Upadhyay  5 , Joanna Kane-Potaka  1 , Yakima D Vogtschmidt  3 , Rosemary Botha  6 , Takuji W Tsusaka  7 , Swamikannu Nedumaran  2 , Hemalatha Rajkumar  8 , Ananthan Rajendran  8 , Devraj J Parasannanavar  8 , Mani Vetriventhan  9 , Raj Kumar Bhandari  10
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Seetha Anitha et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Undernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are traditional foods, and climate smart nutritious crops, which are grown across Africa and Asia, they have not been mainstreamed like rice, wheat, and maize. Diversifying staples with millets can potentially provide more macro and micro nutrients, compared to the mainstream crops. However, there is little known scientific evidence to prove millets' efficacy on growth. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to collate evidence of the benefits of millets in improving the growth of children. Eight eligible randomized feeding trials were included in the meta-analysis. Results from the randomized effect model showed a significant effect (p < 0.05) of millet-based diets on mean height (+28.2%) (n = 8), weight (n = 9) (+26%), mid upper arm circumference (n = 5) (+39%) and chest circumference (n = 5) (+37%) in comparison to regular rice-based diets over for the period of 3 months to 4.5 years, which was based on largely substituting rice with millets. When an enhanced and diverse diet was served, replacing rice with millet had only minimal growth improvement on chest circumference (p < 0.05). The quality assessment using GRADE shows that the evidence used for this systematic review and meta-analysis had moderate quality, based on eight scoring criteria. These results demonstrate the value of adding millet as the staple for undernourished communities. Further understanding of the efficacy of millets on growth in a wider range of diets is important to develop appropriate dietary programs and improve the nutritional status of various age groups across Africa and Asia.

Keywords: adolescent growth; height; infant growth; millets; weight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram for the systematic review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effect of consuming a millet-based diet on mean height change compared to a regular rice-based diet.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of consuming a millet-based diet on mean weight change compared to a regular rice-based diet.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of a consuming finger millet-based diet on mean change in MUAC compared to a regular rice-based diet.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of consuming a finger millet-based diet on mean change in chest circumference compared to a regular rice-based diet.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of consuming an enhanced diverse millet-based diet on mean height change compared to an enhanced diverse rice-based diet.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of consuming an enhanced diverse millet-based diet on mean weight change compared to an enhanced diverse rice-based diet.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of consuming an enhanced diverse millet-based diet on mean MUAC change compared to an enhanced diverse rice-based diet.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Effect of consuming an enhanced diverse millet-based diet on mean chest circumference change compared to an enhanced diverse rice-based diet.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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