Millets and Dals: What Really Has a Low GI
Reviewed by CDE Mehandi Sharma · Updated
Millets have been marketed hard as the diabetes grain. Measured Indian data complicates that considerably, and it is worth knowing before you replace your whole kitchen.
A study measuring the glycaemic index of traditional Indian preparations found some millet dishes scoring very high. Finger millet balls came in at around 98, sorghum roti at around 84, maize roti near 75 and pearl millet roti around 70 — all in the high or upper range.
Meanwhile, pulse preparations scored dramatically lower. White chickpea sundal measured about 24 and white peas sundal about 30. Broken wheat upma came in around 52.
The researchers' own conclusion was the important part: being a wholegrain food does not by itself make something low GI. How it is processed, how intact the food structure is, and how it is cooked all shift the number substantially. A millet ground to fine flour and cooked soft behaves very differently from a whole, minimally processed grain.
The practical takeaway is not to avoid millets. It is to stop treating any single ingredient as a solution, and to notice that dals and whole pulses — already central to Indian cooking — are doing more for you than most grain swaps.