Glycemic index of wheat: roti GI, atta nutrition per 100g

The table gives wheat atta nutritional value per 100g of raw flour straight from the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017) of ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, with finger millet (ragi) and raw milled rice drawn from the same book for context. Whole wheat reads 322 kcal, 10.59 g of protein, 1.47 g of fat, 64.72 g of carbohydrate and 11.23 g of dietary fibre per 100 g.

Two reading notes. First, IFCT 2017 pools its whole-wheat sample without naming a variety, so the same entry covers sharbati atta, chakki atta and any whole wheat flour milled with the bran kept in. Second, these are raw values: once cooked, roti and grain carry a good deal of water, so a 100 g cooked portion holds only part of these numbers, and the next section scales them to the servings Indian kitchens actually make. A pack label can carry slightly different figures; every number this page prints is the IFCT value.

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.

Nobody eats 100 g of raw flour, and a wheat roti nutritional value per 100g of atta from the table above scales down to the servings on the plate: one roti or phulka is rolled from 30 g of atta, the measure the sharbati atta roti recipe is built around, 240 g of flour for eight rotis. Two rotis take 60 g of flour, a 40 g katori of atta covers a smaller helping, and a 120 g cup is what a batch of dough calls for. Water and salt add nothing to these figures, and any ghee brushed on the roti adds its own energy on top.

So one wheat roti comes to about 97 kcal before any ghee, with 3.2 g of protein, 19 g of carbohydrate and 3.4 g of fibre, and two rotis double it to 193 kcal, 6.4 g of protein and 6.7 g of fibre. With the 3 teaspoons of ghee that recipe shares across its eight rotis, the two-roti serving comes to about 227 kcal.

Does wheat atta have protein? Yes: 10.59 g per 100 g, more than ragi's 7.16 g and milled rice's 7.94 g, so a roti's 30 g of atta carries 3.2 g and a two-roti meal 6.4 g before any dal. Like most cereal proteins, wheat's runs short of the amino acid lysine; the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines note that cereals have lower levels of lysine while pulses have higher levels, and that cereal and pulse mixed 3:1 by raw weight can meet the need for all essential amino acids, with milk improving the mix further.

Fibre is wheat's other strength: 11.23 g per 100 g, roughly four times what raw milled rice holds (2.81 g) and level with ragi's 11.18 g. The same guidelines give fibre the job of slowing the meal's carbohydrates and fats and raising its satiety value. Fat is low at 1.47 g per 100 g, and carbohydrate is 64.72 g, so portions still count; what each nutrient does in practice, benefit by benefit, is on the wheat benefits and side effects page.

The glycemic index of wheat, as the University of Sydney GI database prints it, is 47 for whole wheat: the mean of its two India-tested entries, whole kernels that were soaked, kept moist and steamed, tested at GI 30 in India, and a plain wheat sample whose form the database does not state, tested at GI 63. On the Sydney scale the low band runs at 55 and below and the high band starts at 70, so whole wheat sits low. For scale, the same database prints 68 for steamed ragi (from the same 1991 India test as the wheat's 30) and 50 for cooked white basmati. For context, five whole-kernel entries from Canada, Germany and Sweden run from GI 43 to 56; the figure this page uses is the 47 from the two India tests.

Two things a GI is not. It is not a per-100 g measure: a GI test feeds ten or more healthy people a portion carrying 50 g of available carbohydrate and measures the blood-glucose rise against glucose itself, so the figure follows the preparation as much as the grain. And it is not a portion: one roti's 19 g of carbohydrate is well short of that 50 g test dose.

The roti tests land around the same figure. A 2010 Chennai study (Radhika and colleagues) fed eighteen healthy adults 50 g available-carbohydrate portions and measured a glycemic index of 45.1 for a whole wheat flour roti, with a developed atta-mix roti landing at 27.3 in the same study. ICMR-NIN's own guideline table prints wheat chapatti at 65.66 and wheat with chana dhal at 32.37, and calls its figures indicative, noting they may differ with the ratios of the ingredients and the preparation. So the answer to the wheat roti GI question is 45.1 in one test and 65.66 in ICMR-NIN's indicative table, with the flour, the mix and the cooking moving it. Anyone who counts rotis as part of diabetes care should read is sharbati atta good for diabetes, which works through the portions, and talk to their doctor or dietitian.

The mineral column is next. Per 100 g, whole wheat gives 3.97 mg of iron, 125 mg of magnesium, 366 mg of potassium, 2.85 mg of zinc, 39.36 mg of calcium and 30.09 mcg of folate, and its own sodium is only 2.5 mg, so nearly all the salt in a wheat meal is the salt the cook adds. A roti's 30 g of atta carries 1.2 mg of iron and 11.8 mg of calcium; for comparison, ragi holds 364 mg of calcium per 100 g and 4.62 mg of iron, and milled rice 7.49 mg of calcium and 0.65 mg of iron.

Iron is the nutrient most shaped by what else sits on the plate. ICMR-NIN suggests vitamin C fruits such as guava, pineapple and citrus, or coriander and green chilli chutneys, as part of a regular meal to improve iron absorption from plant foods, and says tea binds dietary iron and should be avoided for at least an hour before, during or soon after a meal. Wheat also carries phytate, which the same guidelines say hinders the absorption of minerals; phytic acid in cereals decreases to a great extent after boiling or pressure cooking, and a 2015 Journal of Food Science and Technology review by Gupta and colleagues counts soaking, fermentation and germination among the methods worked out to cut phytic acid further. Vitamin C is not reported for wheat in IFCT 2017. The gehu atta hub puts these numbers in the wider wheat picture.

What is the glycemic index of wheat?

The glycemic index of whole wheat is 47 in the University of Sydney GI database, the mean of its two India-tested entries: whole kernels soaked, kept moist and steamed, tested at 30, and a 'Wheat, NS' entry, form not stated, tested at 63. On the Sydney scale, 55 and below is low, so whole wheat sits in the low band. A GI belongs to the preparation, never to 100 g of grain.

Is wheat low gi?

Whole wheat, yes: 47 sits in the low band, which runs at 55 and below. Preparation moves the number, though. A Chennai study measured whole wheat flour roti at 45.1, still low, while ICMR-NIN's indicative table puts wheat chapatti at 65.66, in the medium band. So a whole-wheat roti can fall in the low or medium band, depending on how it is made.

What is the glycemic index of wheat roti?

45.1 for a whole wheat flour roti in a 2010 Chennai study of eighteen healthy adults, tested in 50 g available-carbohydrate portions; a developed atta-mix roti in the same study measured 27.3. ICMR-NIN's indicative table prints 65.66 for wheat chapatti, with the note that such figures differ with the ratios of the ingredients and the preparation method. The spread is the point: a roti's GI belongs to how it was made.

How many calories in one wheat roti?

About 97 kcal from the 30 g of atta in one roti (322 kcal per 100 g, IFCT 2017), before any ghee, with 3.2 g of protein, 19 g of carbohydrate and 3.4 g of fibre. Two rotis come to 193 kcal. Add the ghee the sharbati atta roti recipe shares across its batch and the two-roti serving lands near 227 kcal.

What is sharbati atta?

Flour milled from sharbati wheat, the premium Madhya Pradesh variety the trade knows as MP wheat: naturally golden, sweet-tasting and soft-textured. COWBERRY mills the whole berries on a stone chakki, so the bran and fibre stay in its sharbati atta. IFCT 2017 pools whole wheat without naming a variety, so the whole-wheat figures above cover sharbati atta too.

Does wheat atta have protein?

Yes: 10.59 g per 100 g (IFCT 2017), more than ragi's 7.16 g and rice's 7.94 g, and a roti's 30 g of atta gives 3.2 g. Wheat protein is short of lysine, as cereal proteins are, so pair the roti with dal: mixed 3:1 by raw weight, cereal and pulse can supply the full set of essential amino acids, and milk or curd strengthens the mix, per the ICMR-NIN guidelines.