Is besan good for diabetes? Carbs, fibre, portion and how to eat it

Besan can sit on a diabetes plate as a counted carbohydrate food; it is a food, not a medicine. A meta-analysis of 41 controlled trials in people with and without diabetes (Diabetologia, 2009) found that pulses eaten on their own lowered fasting blood glucose and insulin, and that pulses inside low-GI diets lowered HbA1c or fructosamine. The review counted chickpeas among the pulses, but its results varied with pulse type, dose and physical form, and it did not test besan as such. It describes pulses as a good source of slowly digestible carbohydrate, fibre and vegetable protein; besan has 22.4 g of protein and 10.8 g of fibre per 100 g. No GI has been published for plain besan flour, only for two chickpea-flour breads, covered below.

The USDA record for chickpea flour (besan) prints these values per 100 g. For diabetes, read the carbohydrate, fibre and protein rows together: the carbohydrate is what raises blood sugar, and India's dietary guidelines say dietary fibre delays and retards the absorption of carbohydrates and fats and increases satiety. A 2019 Lancet review of observational studies in people without chronic disease linked the highest fibre intakes with a 15 to 30 percent lower incidence of several conditions, type 2 diabetes among them, than the lowest intakes, with the greatest risk reduction at 25 to 29 g of fibre a day. It did not study people who already have diabetes. The complete picture of the flour sits on the besan hub.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 174288, NDB 16157. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Plain besan flour has no entry in the University of Sydney GI database. The nearest entries are two chickpea-flour breads tested in Australia (Johnson et al. 2004), at GI 55 and GI 68. Read against the University of Sydney bands, low is GI 55 or under and high starts at 70, so those two breads land on the low line and in the middle band. The 2021 international GI tables report that legumes are usually low-GI foods with consistent values around the world; that finding is for legumes as tested, not for besan flour or the breads made from it. No band can be given for besan itself, so your own glucose readings after a besan meal, reviewed with your doctor, are the practical guide.

One besan roti is made from 30 g of flour, which carries 17.3 g of carbohydrate, 3.2 g of fibre, 6.7 g of protein, 2.0 g of fat and 116 kcal; with the recipe's ghee, each roti comes to 175 kcal. Two chillas, one serving in the recipe, take 45 g of flour. Two rotis double the carbohydrate, so count each one in the day the way you count rice and wheat roti, eat it beside vegetables, dal or curd, and cook with a teaspoon of oil, not a ladleful. The same logic applies to besan upma and besan ki sabji, and more ideas sit in the besan recipes roundup.

Better

• Plain besan roti and chilla with vegetables, dal or curd.
• Besan porridge made without the jaggery the recipe uses.
• Besan ki sabji (zunka) with whole wheat bhakri and a salad.
• Besan-thickened kadhi with plenty of vegetables.

Worse

• Besan laddu, halwa and barfi, where the sweetener and ghee together weigh more than the besan.
• Deep-fried pakoras, fafda and sev.
• Any sweet, fried or sugar-syrup-soaked besan dish eaten often.

Besan is ground chickpea, and the rest of the chickpea family has the published GI values that besan itself lacks. In the GI database, boiled chana dal has GI 11 from a single test in India (Dilawari 1981), and boiled whole chickpeas average GI 23 across nine tests from several countries, none of them India; the database does not separate kala chana from kabuli chana. Those figures belong to the cooked pulse, not the flour, so a besan roti cannot borrow them: your own readings after each, reviewed with your doctor, show how they suit you.

If you have diabetes, keep your medicines and your monitoring routine exactly as your doctor set them; this page changes neither. The per-roti figures here are arithmetic, not a prescription: your carbohydrate target, your medicines and your own readings decide how much besan belongs in your day. If weight loss is part of your plan, the companion page on besan for weight loss covers that side. Before you change what you eat, talk to your doctor or dietitian.

Is besan good for diabetes?

It can be, as a counted part of a meal plan. It brings 22.4 g of protein and 10.8 g of fibre per 100 g, and a 2009 review of trials found that pulses lowered fasting blood glucose and insulin, though results varied with the type and form of pulse. The amount still matters: one roti from 30 g of flour carries 17.3 g of carbohydrate. Pair it with vegetables and count it in your carbohydrate budget.

Is gram flour good for diabetics?

Gram flour and besan are the same chickpea flour, so the same answer applies: it can be, when counted. India's dietary guidelines say dietary fibre delays the absorption of carbohydrates, and a roti or chilla can sit beside vegetables and curd as a counted carbohydrate. Fried and sweet besan dishes add oil and sugar on top of the flour's own carbohydrate.

Does gram flour increase blood sugar?

Yes, as every carbohydrate food does: besan has 57.8 g of carbohydrate per 100 g. India's dietary guidelines say fibre delays carbohydrate absorption, and besan has 10.8 g per 100 g, but no GI has been measured for plain besan. Checking your readings after a plain besan roti with vegetables, and sharing them with your doctor, shows how it suits you.

Can we eat besan in fast?

That depends on your fast and your family's practice, since fasting rules differ on pulses. If besan is part of your fast, the rule is the same as on other days: count the flour, skip the sugar, and pair it with vegetables or curd. A fast changes what and when you eat, so agree it with your doctor if you take diabetes medicines.

How much besan can a diabetic eat in a day?

There is no single gram figure: it depends on your carbohydrate target, your medicines and the rest of the day's food. One besan roti from 30 g of flour carries 17.3 g of carbohydrate, which you count with the rest of the meal and check against your readings. Your doctor or dietitian sets the number for you.

Is besan chilla good for diabetes?

It can be, when it stays simple. A plain besan chilla with grated vegetables, cooked in a teaspoon of oil, is a better choice than a fried or stuffed one. Make it thin and count its flour toward your carbohydrate target for the meal.