Jaggery calories, nutrition and glycemic index: gur vs sugar

The table below sets IFCT 2017's figures for cane jaggery (food code I001) beside USDA FoodData Central's entries for granulated white sugar and honey, all per 100 g. Read it column by column. Energy: jaggery 354 kcal, white sugar 387 kcal, honey 304 kcal, and brown sugar 380 kcal (also USDA). Carbohydrate: jaggery 84.87 g, white sugar 100 g, honey 82.4 g, and most of that carbohydrate is sugar in all three, which is the point people miss when they read jaggery's lower figure as meaning less sugar. Jaggery's lower energy figure simply follows its lower carbohydrate figure; it is not a sign of a lighter sweetener. Protein 1.85 g and fat 0.16 g are too small to count in a diet, and IFCT reports no fibre for jaggery.

The minerals are where jaggery earns its reputation: iron 4.63 mg, calcium 107 mg, magnesium 115 mg, potassium 488 mg and zinc 0.45 mg per 100 g, plus 14.4 mcg folate, against white sugar's 0.05 mg iron, 1 mg calcium and 2 mg potassium. Brown sugar sits between the two, with 0.71 mg iron and 83 mg calcium, and honey has 0.42 mg iron and 6 mg calcium. One plain caution: these are IFCT's average values for cane jaggery, and the label on any pack, COWBERRY's included, gives that product's own values, which can differ. What the minerals amount to at a real serving is worked out below; what jaggery is, how it is made and how to store it are on the jaggery hub.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN); USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 169655, NDB 19335; USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), FDC ID 169640, NDB 19296. GI: University of Sydney GI database. — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Per-100 g figures are for comparing foods; nobody eats jaggery by the hundred grams. The figures below take a level teaspoon as 5 g, a small piece of gur as 10 g and a level tablespoon as 15 g, all worked from the IFCT 2017 figures. A heaped spoon or a large cube weighs more than these, so weigh yours once if the numbers matter to you.

• 1 teaspoon jaggery (5 g): 18 kcal, 4.2 g carbohydrate, 0.23 mg iron, 5.4 mg calcium, 5.8 mg magnesium and 24 mg potassium.
• 1 small piece, or two teaspoons of powder (10 g): 35 kcal, 8.5 g carbohydrate, 0.46 mg iron, 10.7 mg calcium, 11.5 mg magnesium and 49 mg potassium.
• 1 tablespoon jaggery (15 g): 53 kcal, 12.7 g carbohydrate, 0.7 mg iron, 16 mg calcium, 17 mg magnesium and 73 mg potassium. The same 15 g of white sugar is 58 kcal, and of honey about 46 kcal.
• 2 pieces of jaggery (20 g): 71 kcal, 17 g carbohydrate, 0.93 mg iron, 21 mg calcium, 23 mg magnesium and 98 mg potassium.

Two things follow. First, three cups of tea a day at 10 g each come to 30 g of jaggery and about 106 kcal. Second, the mineral figures at spoon level are small: a tablespoon's 0.7 mg iron is a fraction of what an adult needs in a day, so jaggery is not a way to meet iron needs, whatever the folklore says.

Most of it. IFCT 2017 gives carbohydrate 84.87 g per 100 g and reports no fibre, and that carbohydrate is mostly sugar. In practical terms, 10 g of jaggery carries about 8.5 g carbohydrate and a tablespoon about 12.7 g, only a little under what the same weight of white sugar gives.

Once it is added to food, jaggery is also a free sugar. The World Health Organization defines free sugars as the sugars a maker, cook or eater adds to food and drink, plus those naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices (WHO sugars guideline, 2015); gur stirred into tea or cooked into a laddu fits that definition. WHO recommends holding free sugars under 10% of daily energy, and its conditional advice is to go below 5%. ICMR-NIN puts 5% at 25 g of sugar a day for an average 2000 kcal intake, which is five level teaspoons of jaggery, and that 25 g also has to cover the sugar in biscuits, sweets and cold drinks.

In their 2022 Sugar Tech review of non-centrifugal sugar, Rao and Singh list calcium, phosphorus and iron among jaggery's minerals, name antioxidants, phenolics and vitamins as well, and propose jaggery as a healthier substitute for white sugar. Substitute is the key word; nothing in these numbers makes jaggery a low-sugar or "slow" sweetener. The side-by-side comparison is on jaggery vs sugar.

Three plain facts answer the jaggery glycemic index question. Jaggery is mostly sugar: 84.87 g carbohydrate per 100 g. The GI data this page uses, from the University of Sydney database, prints no GI for jaggery, so no number is given here. And for blood sugar, jaggery counts as sugar.

To get a GI, the international standard method described by the University of Sydney has ten or more healthy people eat enough of a food to supply 50 g of available carbohydrate, follows their blood glucose for two hours, and sets the result against the same test done with glucose. A figure that has not been through a test like that is a guess, and a guess is not printed here.

For comparison only, the same database gives white sugar a GI of 70, the mean of 25 entries that range from 48 to 110; brown sugar 71, from a single entry; and honey 63, the mean of seven. None of these is a figure for jaggery, and none should be read as one.

For someone with diabetes the reading is simple: jaggery is a sugar and counts as one, whether the pack says gur, gud or organic. The WHO free-sugars limit applies in full, and so does the advice to talk to your doctor or dietitian before jaggery becomes a daily habit. The data behind this page has no composition entry or GI for palm or date-palm jaggery either, so the same caution applies to them.

The minerals are where jaggery's reputation holds up, so the list below gives the IFCT 2017 figures per 100 g, with the share in a 10 g serving (one small piece or 2 teaspoons of powder) in brackets.

• Iron: 4.63 mg per 100 g (0.46 mg per 10 g). White sugar has 0.05 mg, honey 0.42 mg.
• Calcium: 107 mg (10.7 mg per 10 g). White sugar 1 mg, honey 6 mg.
• Magnesium: 115 mg (11.5 mg per 10 g). White sugar and honey have 2 mg or less.
• Potassium: 488 mg (49 mg per 10 g), against only 25.38 mg sodium (2.5 mg per 10 g): a potassium-heavy, sodium-light profile.
• Zinc: 0.45 mg (0.05 mg per 10 g).
• Folate (a B vitamin, listed here for completeness): 14.4 mcg (1.4 mcg per 10 g).
• Vitamin C and fibre: not reported for jaggery in IFCT 2017.

Two readings of the same numbers are both true. Against white sugar, jaggery is clearly the more complete food: iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium at levels that refining removes. Against the day's needs, a 10 g serving contributes a little iron and calcium and not much else, and doubling the serving doubles the sugar along with the minerals. The people who gain from the iron are those who already use sugar and switch, not those who add jaggery for its iron. The jaggery benefits and side effects page goes through each mineral with this caveat in place.

Three groups search for jaggery calories and glycemic index with a specific worry, and the numbers above answer each of them.

Weight: at 354 kcal per 100 g against 387 kcal for white sugar, jaggery saves less than a tenth of the energy, gram for gram, and nothing at all if you use a little more because it is "healthy". For a weight-loss plan, see jaggery for weight loss, which works through portions.

Diabetes: mostly sugar, no GI in the data, counted as sugar. Whether jaggery has any place in a diabetic meal plan is something to settle when you next talk to your doctor or dietitian.

Pregnancy: the iron is real but small (0.46 mg per 10 g), and with gestational diabetes, ask your doctor first; see jaggery in pregnancy.

Everyday use: for everyone else, jaggery is a way to sweeten a cup of jaggery tea that brings a few minerals along, within the same daily sugar limit as any other sweetener. The Hinglish summary is on gud khane ke fayde.

How many calories in 1 tablespoon of jaggery?

A level tablespoon of jaggery, about 15 g, has 53 kcal and 12.7 g of carbohydrate, most of it sugar, with 0.7 mg iron and 16 mg calcium, worked from IFCT 2017's 354 kcal per 100 g. The same 15 g of white sugar is 58 kcal, so the saving is five calories, not a different kind of food.

Can jaggery cause diabetes?

No source behind this page shows jaggery itself causing diabetes, but it is a free sugar, and the WHO sugars guideline links higher free-sugar intake with weight gain. Keep jaggery inside the limit for all free sugars, below 10% of daily energy. Where diabetes runs in the family, talk to your doctor or dietitian early about your sugar allowance, from gur or anywhere else.

Is jaggery good for weight loss?

Not by itself. Jaggery has 354 kcal per 100 g against white sugar's 387 kcal, a small difference that disappears if you use a spoon more. Replacing sugar with jaggery does little for a diet's calories; eating less of either does more. If you like the taste, use it, and count it exactly the way you would count sugar.

What is the glycemic index of jaggery?

There is no figure to give: the University of Sydney GI data this page uses prints no GI for jaggery. What is known is that jaggery is mostly sugar, 84.87 g carbohydrate per 100 g, and that for blood sugar it counts as sugar. If you have diabetes, gur belongs in the carbohydrate count you agree on; talk to your doctor or dietitian ahead of adding it.

Is jaggery sugar free?

No. Jaggery is mostly sugar: IFCT 2017 gives 84.87 g carbohydrate per 100 g, so "sugar-free" on any jaggery product would simply be wrong. What jaggery has that refined sugar lacks is its minerals, iron 4.63 mg and calcium 107 mg per 100 g, and minerals do not cancel sugar.

How much jaggery per day is okay?

Keep all free sugars, jaggery included, below 10% of your daily energy, as WHO recommends, and below 5% if you can, as it suggests. Taking an average 2000 kcal day, as ICMR-NIN does, 5% works out to 25 g, which is five level teaspoons when jaggery is the only sweetener you eat and fewer once biscuits, sweets or cold drinks come in. With diabetes, ask your doctor or dietitian.