Thanks to their resilience, adaptability, productivity, and nutritional value, #millets have been a staple crop in many countries for centuries. Frontiers in Nutrition, has recently published a series of papers on millets that we commented on a few weeks ago.
Despite the benefits of millets, some studies dated back to 1980s have associated millet consumption with #goiter something usually associated with iodine deficiency. Millets, especially pearl millet, have been speculated to contain certain compounds that can interfere with iodine metabolism and thyroid function, thus resulting in goiter. Anitha Seetha, Shweta Upadhyay, Stefania Grando, and Joanna Kane-Potaka have investigated this concern in an interesting systematic review
👉 https://lnkd.in/gtDjmqcs
The authors concluded there was a lack of compelling and concrete evidence to establish the link between millet consumption and development of goiter. Various limitations in the current available studies present great opportunities for more appropriate research to better inform decision-making:
1. Most of the significant results were from small sample size animal studies The diet intervention also sometimes used raw or isolated millet fractions and not a cooked & balanced millet-based meal.
➡ Better study designs are needed.
2. Few human studies have been conducted, and those available are only observational with little knowledge of iodine status in the participants.
➡ Cohort and/or experimental designed human trials are needed, and the prevalence of malnutrition and vitamin/mineral status in those studied populations should be characterized.
3. Studies proposed a few flavones as the potential active compounds that can potentially cause goiter. Potential mechanisms of action include inhibiting a key enzyme in thyroid hormone metabolism, or iodine trapping/affecting iodine absorption, etc. However:
a. The quantities of flavones ingested solely through millets were unlikely to be adequate to cause goiter.
b. Some proposed flavones are also present in other widely consumed vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower without the same concern.
4. Most studies only focused on pearl millet with only 2 papers on fonio millet. According to those studies, different active compounds may present in different types of millets.
➡There is a need to study the variability in flavone content of different types and varieties of millets.
5. Food processing, e.g. fermentation and cooking, may reduce some of these potential harmful flavones.
➡more studies on the effect of processing are needed.
Its important to note that flavones can also have positive benefits such as antioxidant properties. "In addition to flavones, millets provide a plethora of other nutrients and phytochemicals, and consuming millet as part of a diversified diet would NOT pose any risks to thyroid functioning in healthy individuals.”
Enjoy!
post by Shiqi (Sunny) Huang
