FOOD GUIDES & CARB DATABASE

Glycemic Index of Pakistani Foods: Roti, Rice, Paratha and More

A practical, sourced look at how Pakistan's everyday staples rank on the glycemic index — and an honest account of which numbers are actually backed by research and which are best described qualitatively.

6 min readSeptember 1, 2026

Chakki roti, a bowl of basmati rice and a folded paratha on a wooden table — Photo via tehzeebkazmii / Pixabay (opens in a new tab)

The Glycemic Index (GI) ranks carbohydrate-containing foods from 0 to 100 by how quickly they raise blood sugar compared with pure glucose (GI 100). High-GI foods digest quickly and tend to cause a sharper rise; low-GI foods digest more slowly, releasing glucose more gradually. GI values are measured in controlled studies on a specific food and portion, which is why the same dish can test differently across studies depending on the variety, the recipe and how it was cooked.

You do not need to give up traditional Pakistani staples to manage blood sugar. Knowing roughly where roti, rice, paratha, daal and naan sit — and being honest about which of those numbers are actually backed by a real study — helps you make sensible pairing and portion choices instead of guessing.

How GI categories work

Low GI (55 or less): digested more slowly, generally a steadier blood sugar response.
Medium GI (56-69): a moderate response, best kept to sensible portions.
High GI (70 or above): digested quickly and more likely to cause a sharper post-meal rise, especially eaten on its own.

These bands come from the University of Sydney's Glycemic Index Research Service (opens in a new tab) and are used the same way by NHS (opens in a new tab) patient guidance in the UK. It's worth noting, per that same NHS guidance, that even a low- or medium-GI food can raise glucose substantially if the portion is large — GI describes the speed of the rise, not the total amount of carbohydrate in what you actually ate.

Why Glycemic Load matters as much as the Index

GI vs. Glycemic Load (GL)

GI tells you how fast a food's carbohydrate digests. Glycemic Load factors in how much carbohydrate is actually in a real portion. A food can carry a high GI but a low glycemic load if a typical serving is mostly water or fiber and light on carbohydrate — watermelon is the commonly cited example. This is why portion size, not the GI number alone, is usually the more useful thing to manage day to day.

What the research actually shows for Pakistani staples

The table below separates foods with a real, sourced GI value from foods where no single verified number could be found — for those, the impact is described qualitatively rather than inventing a figure.

Food	GI value or band	Category	Source
Basmati rice, boiled	Roughly 50-58 in most tested samples	Low-Medium	University of Sydney Glycemic Index Research Service (glycemicindex.com)
Whole wheat chapati / chakki roti	Roughly 45-55; flour blends with barley or gram flour test lower	Medium (low end)	Peer-reviewed glycaemic-index studies on Indian whole wheat flatbreads (British Journal of Nutrition, via PubMed)
Chickpeas / chana, boiled	Roughly 28-35	Low	University of Sydney Glycemic Index Research Service
Lentils / masoor daal, boiled	Roughly 32-42	Low	University of Sydney Glycemic Index Research Service
White naan / maida bread	No single Pakistan-specific study found; published estimates for refined-wheat naan and white bread generally sit above 65-70	High	Multiple published estimates for maida-based breads exceed the high-GI cutoff; exact figures vary by recipe and have not been pinned to one authoritative number for Pakistani-style tandoor naan specifically
Paratha (ghee-fried)	No verified GI number found for Pakistani-style paratha	Likely medium-to-high, with a delayed, prolonged rise rather than a sharp early spike	Added fat slows gastric emptying — see the section below on why a single number is misleading here

Why paratha resists a single GI number

Paratha combines wheat flour with a meaningful amount of ghee or oil folded into the dough. Fat slows down how quickly the stomach empties into the small intestine, which tends to blunt and delay the glucose rise rather than eliminate it — the peak can arrive later and last longer instead of appearing sharply within the first hour. This changes the shape of the glucose curve in a way a single GI number does not capture well, and no controlled study specific to Pakistani-style paratha was found in this research pass. What is verified, from the Pakistan Food Composition Table (2001) (opens in a new tab), is the macro picture: a medium paratha carries roughly similar total carbohydrate to a chakki roti of the same dough weight, but substantially more fat and calories — the practical difference between the two is mostly about fat and portion size, not a dramatically different carbohydrate load.

Watch for a delayed spike after paratha or a heavy, ghee-rich meal

Because fat slows digestion, blood sugar after paratha or a rich, oily meal can look normal at one hour and then rise later, sometimes three to four hours after eating. This matters if you take mealtime insulin dosed for an early peak, or if you only check once shortly after eating.

Cooking and cooling change the numbers too

How a staple is cooked can shift its practical impact even when the food itself is the same. Overcooking starchy foods breaks down more of their structure before you even eat them, which generally makes the carbohydrate easier and faster to digest — keeping rice and daal cooked rather than mushy is one simple adjustment. Cooling cooked rice or potatoes and reheating them can also increase "resistant starch," a form of starch that resists digestion and behaves more like fiber; this is a well-documented effect in the wider nutrition literature, though the exact size of the change depends on the food, how long it's cooled, and how it's reheated.

Practical takeaways for a Pakistani plate

Pair higher-GI foods — naan, white rice dishes, sweets — with protein, fat or fiber rather than eating them alone; this softens the impact even without changing the GI number itself.
Favor chakki whole wheat roti over naan or maida-based bread as an everyday choice, and treat naan as more occasional.
Keep rice and daal cooked, not overcooked or mushy, and consider cooling and reheating rice when practical.
Treat paratha as a portion-and-frequency food rather than judging it purely by a GI number that isn't well established for it.
Use your own post-meal readings, when advised by your clinician, as the most reliable guide to how a specific staple and portion affects you personally.

“You do not need to eliminate high-GI foods completely. Pairing them with protein, fat and fiber, and watching the portion, does more for your actual reading than memorizing a number.”

Compare your own readings after different staples

Use Diatic to log your post-meal readings and see whether roti, rice or paratha affects you differently.

Log a reading

Frequently asked questions

Does cooking time change the glycemic index of a food?

Yes, generally. Overcooking breaks down starch structures further, which tends to make carbohydrate easier and faster to absorb. Keeping rice, pasta or lentils cooked rather than mushy tends to preserve a somewhat lower glycemic impact than the same food cooked to a very soft, overdone texture.

Is a lower GI always healthier?

Not necessarily. Some low-GI foods are low-GI because of high fat content, not because they're nutritionally better — a food's overall nutritional value, not just its GI number, is what matters most.

Why does naan cause a higher spike than roti?

Naan is typically made from refined maida, which lacks the bran and fiber found in whole wheat chakki atta, and is often leavened with yeast or baking soda. It tends to digest faster than whole wheat roti, though a Pakistan-specific tested GI value for tandoor naan specifically was not found in this research.

Is brown rice meaningfully better than white basmati rice for diabetes?

It depends more on the variety and study than the color. Brown basmati generally carries more fiber, but published GI values for basmati rice vary by processing and variety, and some brown basmati has tested with a similar or higher GI than parboiled white basmati. Total carbohydrate content is nearly identical either way, so portion control matters regardless of which you choose.

Does a specific GI number exist for Pakistani paratha?

Not one that this research could verify. Published GI studies focus mostly on plain wheat rotis and chapatis, not ghee-laden layered parathas. The honest answer is that paratha's fat content clearly delays and prolongs digestion, but no controlled study assigning it a specific number was found — so it's described here qualitatively rather than with an invented figure.