Nutrition
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Digitaria exilis (fonio) is a tiny variety of millet commonly eaten by inhabitants of semiarid regions. A sample of fonio collected right in the middle of a severely iodine-depleted goitrous endemic was submitted to phytochemical investigations in order to assess the potential contributory roles played by vegetable molecules to the goitrogenic processes. The total content of flavonoids amounts to 500 mg/kg of the edible whole cereal grains. ⋯ In addition, L1 significantly depresses the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, implying a concomitant overproduction of the thyrotropin-dependent nucleotide. These last unreported data are regarded as counteracting to some extent the TPO-mediated goitrogenic properties of L1. Since fonio is devoid of other molecules likely to interfere with the thyroid function, our results are directly and casually attributed to A and L1 found in the customary diet.