Jowar roti calories and jowar nutritional value per 100 g

IFCT 2017 analysed raw whole sorghum and reports, per 100 g: 334 kcal of energy (1398 kJ), 9.97 g protein, 1.73 g fat, 67.68 g carbohydrate and 10.22 g dietary fibre; then 3.95 mg iron, 27.6 mg calcium, 133 mg magnesium, 328 mg potassium, 5.42 mg sodium, 1.96 mg zinc and 39.42 mcg folate. The vitamin C cell is blank, meaning below IFCT's detectable limit, as it is for wheat and bajra; ICAR-IIMR likewise calls sorghum poor in vitamin C. These are values for the raw grain, and jowar atta milled from the whole grain carries the same numbers, so the per-roti figures further down are worked out from the weight of flour in each one.

The table puts jowar beside the two grains it replaces or competes with at the roti stage, whole wheat and bajra. Read it column by column: jowar sits between the two on energy, is within a gram of both on protein, about a gram behind both on fibre, and between them on fat, a little above wheat and about a third of bajra.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). 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.

A jowar roti has no fixed size, so the calories depend on the flour that went in. A thin, palm-patted roti uses about 30 g of jowar atta and a standard Maharashtra bhakri about 40 g. Worked out from the IFCT per-100 g values, with the water and the pinch of salt adding nothing:

• 1 jowar roti (30 g flour): about 100 kcal, 3 g protein, 20.3 g carbohydrate, 3.1 g fibre, 0.5 g fat and 1.2 mg iron.
• 1 jowar bhakri (40 g flour): about 134 kcal, 4 g protein, 27.1 g carbohydrate, 4.1 g fibre, 0.7 g fat and 1.6 mg iron.
• 2 bhakris (80 g flour), a typical meal: about 267 kcal, 8 g protein, 8.2 g fibre and 3.2 mg iron.
• 1 katori of cooked whole jowar (from 40 g raw grain): about 134 kcal, 4 g protein and 4.1 g fibre, the same as one bhakri, since the cooking water adds no calories.

None of this counts what goes on the roti. A teaspoon of ghee or a spoon of oil adds its own fat and energy, and the dal or sabzi beside it adds more protein, so a bhakri meal is not "134 kcal". For the roti itself, the number that matters is the flour: weigh the dough once, and you will know your roti for good. The same arithmetic for bajra roti is on the bajra page.

Protein in jowar: 9.97 g per 100 g, against 10.59 g in whole wheat and 10.96 g in bajra (IFCT 2017). The three are within a gram of each other, so switching a wheat roti for a jowar bhakri costs very little protein. What all three share, as cereals, is a low level of the amino acid lysine; the ICMR-NIN guidelines note that cereals eaten with pulses, about 3 parts to 1 by raw weight, meet the need for all the essential amino acids. ICAR-IIMR adds that sorghum's main proteins, the kafirins, become less digestible on cooking than other cereal proteins, and that processing and eating sorghum with other foods improve its protein quality.

Jowar carbs: 67.68 g per 100 g, the highest of the three (wheat 64.72 g, bajra 61.78 g). Starch is the largest part, half to three-quarters of the grain's weight according to ICAR-IIMR; the 10.22 g of dietary fibre is counted separately, on top of the 67.68 g. A 30 g roti therefore carries 20.3 g of carbohydrate, which matters if you count carbohydrate for diabetes.

Fibre: 10.22 g per 100 g in jowar, 11.23 g in whole wheat and 11.49 g in bajra. Jowar is about a gram behind the other two, and all three carry more than three times the fibre of raw milled white rice in the same tables. The ICMR-NIN guidelines credit dietary fibre with slowing the absorption of carbohydrate and fat and with making a meal more filling.

Fat and energy. Jowar has 1.73 g fat and 334 kcal, whole wheat 1.47 g and 322 kcal, bajra 5.43 g and 348 kcal. ICAR-IIMR notes that the oil in whole-grain flour oxidises and turns rancid in storage, and names pearl millet meal in particular; jowar has about a third of bajra's fat. If the choice is about a lower-fat roti, jowar and wheat are close and both sit well under bajra; if it is about iron, bajra wins (see the micronutrients below).

The glycemic index of jowar is 66 in the University of Sydney database, measured on plain de-husked sorghum grain boiled in water. That is a medium value: the Sydney bands are low up to 55, medium from 56 to 69 and high from 70 upwards. For comparison, the two wheat entries tested in India average 47 and India-tested bajra roti 57 in the same database, so on these entries jowar is the highest of the three, not the lowest.

Two cautions. First, the 66 is for boiled whole grain; the one Indian test of a roasted jowar roti in the database came out in the high band, and the 2021 international GI tables in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found wide variation among cereal products, presumably from differences in how they are made. Second, GI describes the grain eaten alone. Glycemic load also counts the portion: applying the boiled-grain GI of 66 to the 20.3 g of carbohydrate in a 30 g roti gives a glycemic load of about 13.4, an estimate, since it borrows the grain's GI rather than a roti's.

Diet trials add to the single GI number. In a 2021 Frontiers in Nutrition meta-analysis, sorghum sat among the intermediate-GI millets (55 to 69), and diabetic subjects who ate millets over the long term saw fasting glucose fall by 12 percent and post-prandial glucose by 15 percent; a 2016 Nutrition Reviews systematic review of 19 studies reported evidence that eating sorghum attenuated blood glucose responses. Which grain to pick for a daily meal, and how big a portion, is worked through in millets vs rice. If you manage diabetes, use the numbers as a guide to portion and pairing, and talk to your doctor or dietitian about your own targets.

Per 100 g, IFCT 2017 gives jowar 3.95 mg iron, 27.6 mg calcium, 133 mg magnesium, 328 mg potassium, 1.96 mg zinc, 39.42 mcg folate and 5.42 mg sodium. Beside its peers:

• Iron: 3.95 mg, level with whole wheat (3.97 mg) and well below bajra (6.42 mg). A 40 g bhakri gives 1.6 mg. The ICMR-NIN guidelines note that iron from plant foods is poorly available and that vitamin C-rich foods such as lemon, guava or a coriander-chilli chutney eaten with the meal improve its absorption. In a 2021 Frontiers in Nutrition meta-analysis, 19 studies of people with anaemia saw haemoglobin rise 13.2 percent on regular millet meals or drinks against 2.7 percent on usual diets, and four human studies showed serum ferritin rising.
• Magnesium: 133 mg, a little above wheat (125 mg) and bajra (124 mg); a 30 g roti gives about 40 mg.
• Potassium: 328 mg, slightly under wheat (366 mg) and bajra (365 mg); a 30 g roti gives about 98 mg. People on a potassium-restricted diet should count it.
• Calcium: 27.6 mg, low, as in wheat (39.36 mg) and bajra (27.35 mg). Jowar is not a calcium grain; ragi is.
• Zinc: 1.96 mg, against 2.85 mg in wheat and 2.76 mg in bajra, the lowest of the three.
• Folate: 39.42 mcg, against 30.09 mcg in wheat and 36.11 mcg in bajra, the highest of the three.
• Sodium: 5.42 mg, negligible, so the salt in a bhakri is whatever you add.

Two things in the grain hold minerals back. ICAR-IIMR names phytates and tannins, adding that tannins, where a variety has them, usually sit in the outer layer; the ICMR-NIN guidelines note that boiling or pressure cooking lowers phytic acid to a great extent, leaving more of the iron, magnesium and zinc absorbable. What these minerals do in the body, with the evidence, is on jowar atta benefits and side effects.

Put together, a day with two jowar bhakris at lunch (80 g flour) and a katori of cooked jowar in an evening khichdi (40 g raw grain) supplies about 401 kcal, 12 g protein and 12.3 g fibre from the grain alone, before the dal, vegetables, curd and ghee that complete the meals. That is a jowar-heavy day: the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians suggest adults take 20 to 30 percent of their cereals (raw weight) from millets, and 120 g is above that share for every adult group in their tables. Keep days like this occasional and rotate jowar with wheat, rice, ragi and bajra through the week, the mixed whole-grain pattern the same guidelines recommend. The grain's names, storage and buying advice are in the jowar guide.

To cook it: jowar bhakri for the roti, jowar upma for a breakfast of whole jowar soaked overnight and pressure-cooked, and jowar dosa for a crisp instant one; the complete list is in the jowar recipes roundup, and the same numbers in Hinglish are on jowar ki roti ke fayde.

Does jowar have carbs?

Yes. Jowar has 67.68 g carbohydrate per 100 g (IFCT 2017), mostly starch, plus 10.22 g dietary fibre. A 30 g roti carries 20.3 g of carbohydrate and a 40 g bhakri 27.1 g, about the same as a wheat roti of the same weight. It is a carbohydrate staple, so it replaces rice or wheat rather than adding to them.

Does jowar have protein?

Yes, 9.97 g per 100 g in IFCT 2017, within a gram of whole wheat (10.59 g) and bajra (10.96 g). A 40 g bhakri gives about 4 g and two bhakris about 8 g. The protein is low in lysine and, once cooked, less digestible than other cereal proteins (ICAR-IIMR), so dal, curd or milk at the same meal improves its quality.

How many calories are in 1 jowar bhakri?

About 134 kcal for a standard bhakri made from 40 g of jowar atta, and about 100 kcal for a thin roti made from 30 g, worked out from the IFCT 2017 value of 334 kcal per 100 g of raw jowar. Any ghee brushed on top is extra. Weigh the dough for one bhakri once, and you will know your own number.

Can sorghum spike blood sugar?

It can: its GI of 66 is in the medium band, and the one roasted jowar roti tested in India came out in the high band. A 2021 meta-analysis still found lower fasting and post-meal glucose in people with diabetes who ate millets over the long term. Keep to one or two bhakris with dal, and ask your doctor or dietitian about your own targets.

Which jowar is good for diabetes?

The GI entries for jowar do not name a variety, so go by form and portion. De-husked whole grain, boiled, has the medium GI of 66 in the University of Sydney database, while the one roasted jowar roti tested in India came out higher. Choose whole grain where you can, keep to one or two bhakris with dal, and talk to your doctor or dietitian about your own carbohydrate limit.

Is jowar good for health?

As a staple grain, yes: 10.22 g fibre and 9.97 g protein per 100 g with 1.73 g fat, no gluten, and a useful 3.95 mg iron and 133 mg magnesium. It is not a magic grain: its GI is medium and its protein is low in lysine, so it pairs best with dal. Eaten as one or two bhakris in place of rice or maida, it is a sound everyday choice.