Cereals and millets have been known as poor man’s crops for a long time, and have good potential in the mercenary system of food and in research and development but these coarse grains have been leftover and underutilised since a long time. In addition to nutritional properties, various elements of cereal grains contain phenolic compounds as well as various anti-nutritional factors. To improve the nutritional quality and availability of these grains, they are processed in several ways. This review discusses the effect of pre-processing techniques such as germination with a combination of probiotic fermentation on various components of underutilised coarse cereals and millets and advantages it brings into the final product. Germinated food mixture usually contains a significantly higher amount of thiamine, lysine and niacin contents. The combination of cereals with other methods results in better nutrient profile and an enhanced amino acid pattern. Fermentation is said to be the most crucial and popular process which considerably lowers the antinutrients present in coarse cereals such as trypsin inhibitor, phytic acid and tannins and hence, enhance the overall nutritive value of coarse cereals and other food grains. Also, germinated cereal-based food products have higher cell count and better growth of beneficial bacteria, thus, germination of cereals facilitates the probiotic fermentation of cereals. Graphical abstract

Purpose of Review An unexpected and sudden outbreak of a novel infection known as a coronavirus (COVID-19) has imposed important problems to global well-being and economy. Based upon current researches, this virus is spreading from one human to another through respiratory droplets, i.e. cough and sneeze. Till now, there has not been any specific treatment found for this virus. Hence, there is a critical need to discover alternative techniques to cope with the current scenario. Recent Findings This review conducted an online search for prevention of coronavirus infection with the help of nutritional interventions. It has been observed that the effect of the virus is mostly on the individual with low immunity, individual affected with diseases like diabetes, and individual using any immune-suppressed drug or having past history of major surgeries or severe medical conditions. Summary Therefore, consuming foods which boost immunity helps in preventing respiratory-related disorder or suppressing diseases-related problems, which could be helpful in controlling the spread of this virus. In conclusion, it has been suggested that before the beginning of generalised treatments and interventions in each infected patient, nutritional status should be evaluated, as it can help in creating a specific nutrition intervention for the infected individual.

A large amount of agricultural wastes is being dumped each year and utilized as animal fodder or biogas production or for compost matter. But if properly processed, the by-products available from them can be used effectively for human consumption which exhibits their more or less lucrative value (Wani, Dar, Gull, & Ariana, 2020). An unprecedented amount of agricultural wastes of almost around 1,000 million tons is produced globally and is getting hiked by 5% annually. The recent trend of its usage has been escalated by increasing the nutritional value of products and making it ready-to-eat for humans, though not sufficient, due to some censorious challenges in the near future. There is a huge growth in the population and hence an additional demand of food has raised the concern of food security. This food loss is not only due to post-harvest loss (PHL) but the loss of collective agro-wastes from milling industries in a large extent that remain unnoticed, and hence are mainly utilized for animal fodder or for other industrial purposes. Some well-known and consumable food crops are rice and wheat, including many other cereals and pulses. The available by-products such as husk and bran can also be used in health complications and therapeutic purposes, and thus have multiple values. (Chakraborty & Budhwar, 2019;

Due to pandemic situation, a sudden demand of healthy and immune booster products has risen to get rid of infections like Covid-19. The aim of this study is to develop novel health drink and beverages using plant-based byproducts like orange peel, milling byproducts (chickpea husk, rice bran, broken rice, wheat bran). Byproducts were processed by using different culinary processes such as, soaking, blanching, roasting, natural air-drying. Proximate composition along with minerals, antioxidants, Vitamin-C of formulated Health Drink Powder (HDP) and Detox Tea-substitute (DTS) were estimated. Most acceptable variants among the formulated products were estimated through sensory profiling where, HDP1 (7.79 ± 0.01) and DTS2 (8.18 ± 0.11) showed higher acceptability scores among others. Crude protein present in HDP and DTS were (19.27 ± 0.01)% and (18.21 ± 0.19)% respectively. Calcium was higher in HDP (81.21 ± 4.03 mg/100 g), whereas phosphorus was higher in DTS (211.52 ± 0.22 mg/100 g). Total phenolic contents of both the products were around 4 mg GAE/g. Vitamin C level was higher in HDP (60.23 ± 0.11 mg/100 g). Shelf life study and microbial load assessment indicated longer storage life of the formulated products. The Total Plate counts (Log CFU/g) were 2.12 ± 0.01 and 2.08 ± 0.12 found to be in freshly prepared HDP1 and DTS2 respectively under evaluation. The yeast and mold counts (Log CFU/g) was observed after 75th day and 60th day in HDP1 (2.09 ± 0.05) and DTS2 (2.01 ± 0.11) respectively (stored room temperature). The overall acceptability of these novel formulations as determined by sensory evaluation throughout the storage duration was satisfactory. According to the estimated data it can be concluded that the selected byproducts can be utilized as significant plant-based sources to formulate value-added functional products without affecting its sensory quality and to enhance nutritional status of consumer.

Increasing population now-a-days is one of the most crucial phases of upcoming future troubles. Food wastage along with the nutritional expenditure should not be entertained. Several milling by-products of crops viz., wheat bran, are principle pool of nutrients. It is very much essential to study and gain knowledge about the nutrients, anti-oxidants, anti-nutritional components and their effect upon diseased condition along with the probability of production of edible food stuffs for human. Though there is enough production of wheat bran, most of the amount is either wasted or used as livestock fed. It has been shown that bran part has potential efficiency to be used as therapeutic tool for various diseases such as, cancer, obesity and diabetes, bowel irritation etc. Its role as a prebiotic might also prove an asset to remarkably influence gut microflora. Its antinutritional content is also lower than the rice bran and that is also manageable for the further use as food stuff. The physicochemical properties along with its nutrient as well as anti-nutrient contents must be utilized and regulated as requirement to combat malnourishment besides hunger issues and therapies.