Interest in proso millet as a functional food is growing. However, studies on the chemical composition, antioxidant, and antiproliferative activities’ differences of proso millet cultivars in China are limited. Nine Chinese proso millet varieties (five waxy varieties – S, D, N2, N4, N8 and four non-waxy varieties – J1, J3, J7, J9) were investigated. Results showed that the non-waxy varieties were significantly higher than waxy varieties in the content of amylase and resistant starch (22.95%, 0.23%, 2.02%, and 0.78%, respectively; P < .05). Lys was the first limit amino acid (AAS: 16.08%). Linolenic acid (61.74%) and oleic acid (22.16%) were the dominant fatty acids. Overall, the antioxidant content and antioxidant activities of J1 and J3 were higher than other cultivars. And, J7, J3, and J1 possessed better antiproliferative effects than other proso millet varieties. These results are anticipated to provide useful information on the development of proso millet-based functional food.

The starch digestion processing of whole grain foods is associated with its health benefits in improving insulin resistance. This study modified the digestibility of whole quinoa flour (WQ) via heat-moisture treatment (HMT), HMT combined with pullulanase (HMT+P), HMT combined with microwave (HMT+M), and HMT combined with citric acids (HMT+A), respectively. Results showed that all the treatments significantly increased (p < 0.05) the total dietary fiber (TDF) content, amylose content, and resistant starch (RS) content, however, significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the amylopectin content and rapidly digestible starch (RDS) content of WQ. HMT+P brought the highest TDF content (15.3%), amylose content (31.24%), and RS content (15.71%), and the lowest amylopecyin content (30.02%) and RDS content (23.65%). HMT+M brought the highest slowly digestible starch (SDS) content (25.09%). The estimated glycemic index (eGI) was respectively reduced from 74.36 to 70.59, 65.87, 69.79, and 69.12 by HMT, HMT+P, HMT+M, and HMT+A. Moreover, a significant and consistent reduction in the heat enthalpy (ΔH) of WQ was observed (p < 0.05), after four treatments. All these effects were caused by changes in the starch structure, as evidenced by the observed conjunction of protein and starch by a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), the decrease in relative crystallinity, and transformation of starch crystal.