Prebiotic Fortification: Millets in Building Resilience Against Colon Cancer

Millets are a significant cereal consumed globally, ranking sixth in importance. Additionally, components derived from millets exhibit crucial roles in disease prevention. Innumerable studies have proven that specific nutrients found in millet bran, particularly prebiotics, displayed remarkable inhibitory effects on the growth of colon cancer cells in humans. However, these effects were not observed in normal colon epithelial cells. The mechanistic investigations revealed that the selective anti-cancer properties of the different nutritional components of millets and other millet products were primarily achieved by increasing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in colon cancer cells compared to normal cells. Developing snack products with increased prebiotic content in millets and making them commercially available could be a valuable initiative in the fight against and prevention of colon cancer by regulating certain factors and pathways involved. Therefore, from the research studies conducted we can conclude that millet bran-derived products have therapeutic potential for managing colon cancer.