Jackfruit flour, a new weapon to fight diabetes
Covid increases demand for jackfruit flour 10-fold.
Jackfruit is a common vegetable that grows in almost all parts of India. Its fibrous appearance on being cooked has given it the moniker of vegetarian chicken. But now the unripe jackfruit, its flour to be precise, is making news for its sugar reducing powers. The American Diabetes Association, an 80-year-old voluntary organization, recently recognized its role in managing diabetes.
There are many natural products—fenugreek seeds, cinnamon, millets, flaxseeds etc--- that are routinely recommended to India’s 7.7 crore diabetics because they have a low glycemic index (GI), which means they release sugar slowly into the blood, keeping it in controlled amounts.
But the flour is making news because it can effectively replace/ reduce two biggest enemies of diabetics- white rice and wheat flour. Both have high GI and are first to be dropped from the diet of a diabetic. A 2012 study done at Harvard found that people who ate three- four servings of rice a day were 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than people who ate the least amount of rice. The link was stronger for people in Asian countries.
But sine Indians love their carbs and don’t feel “full” without a portion of roti or rice, many diabetics struggle to manage their disease.
Jackfruit flour can be added to wheat flour to make diabetes-friendly rotis. Down south, people can add a spoon to the dosa batter to reduce its sugar load. For those who can’t give up rice, adding jackfruit flour to sambar or buttermilk can help. Not only will it bring down the GI but its high soluble fiber content will make you feel full and you won’t end up eating too much rice.
“ Due to the risk presented by Covid to diabetics, we registered a 10-fold increase in demand in October, said James Joseph, CEO, Jackfruit365, a jackfruit flour brand. From selling at a few physical stores in Kerala, Joseph now ships the flour pan-India through Big Basket, Amazon, Flipkart. A pack of 400gm costs costs Rs.160.
Anupama, a user, wrote about her experience using this product on Amazon reviews. It helped bring down sugar levels of her 72-year old father who had been diabetic for 30 years. Earlier this year, he got pneumonia and was on strong medication that made his blood sugar shoot up. “ I started feeding my dad with food mixed with Jackfruit365 flour and fund his levels coming down, also managed to reduce his insulin dosage”, she wrote.
The brand had also done a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the glucose lowering effects of green jackfruit flour in patients of diabetes mellitus. The results of the study were published in the journal Diabetes in June. In participants taking jackfruit flour meal, mean HbA1c at baseline was 7.23 and at end of the study ( 12 weeks) it was 6.98. in participants taking placebo meal, mean HbA1c at the beginning of the study was 7.26 and increased to 7.28 by the end of it.
One cup of jackfruit flour has 40% less carbohydrates and 4 times higher fiber than a cup of wheat/ rice flour, said Joseph. “ I will consider it as a nutrient worth a try in patients with diabetes,” said Dr. Anoop Misra, an endocrinologist.
65-year old retired bank officer has been a diabetic for 20 years. But since 2018, she has been able to manage her diabetes without medicine and insulin by restricting her diet and she uses jackfruit flour. On the days that I don’t take jackfruit flour my post-prandial sugar measures around 200. But on days I take it, its 160 or below , she said.
Despite its benefits for diabetics, the use of jackfruit flour is still new in India and most people don’t know about it. A nutritionist warns that it shouldn’t be seen as a panacea but one of the many things you can do to control sugar. If there’s an option like jackfruit flour then diabetics could continue eating wheat and rice without complicating their disease, said an endocrinologist.
A senior dietician at a hospital said most unripe fruits, like jackfruit are low in GI and have sugar-reducing effects. But if there are more studies on jackfruit, then we can also recommend it to our patients, she said.