Is Fufu Good for Diabetes? Cassava, Wheat and Plantain Fufu

Fufu is one of the most loved swallows in Nigeria. In the East it is akpu, and many homes eat it with egusi, ofe onugbu or okra soup at least a few times a week. It is filling, it is cheap, and for many people a meal is not complete without it.

But if you have diabetes, you may be wondering: is fufu good for diabetes?

The answer is that fufu raises blood sugar faster than any other common swallow in Nigeria. That does not mean you must never eat it again. It means the size of the ball, the soup you eat it with, and how often you eat it matter more for fufu than for almost any other food on your plate.

Does Fufu Increase Blood Sugar?

Yes, it does, and very quickly.

Researchers measure how fast a food raises blood sugar using the glycemic index. Pure glucose scores 100. A score of 55 or below is low. A score of 70 or above is high.

In a study in Makurdi, fufu scored 97 in people living with diabetes, and 94.8 in people without diabetes. That is close to pure glucose.

In the same study, eba scored 84, pounded yam scored 81, and amala made from yam flour scored 69. Fufu was the highest of them all.

Does Fufu Contain Sugar?

Fufu does not taste sweet, and there is no sugar added to it. But that does not tell you what it does inside your body.

Fufu is made from cassava, and cassava is mostly starch. Your body breaks starch down into sugar. Fufu is soft and smooth, so your body breaks it down very fast, and the sugar reaches your blood quickly.

One ball of fufu the size of your fist, about 100g, gives you about 25g of starch. Two or three balls at one meal, which is how many people eat it, is two or three times that.

Why Does Fufu Raise Sugar More Than Eba?

Fufu and eba both come from cassava, but they are made in different ways.

For fufu, the cassava is peeled and soaked in water for a few days until it is soft and sour. It is then mashed, sieved and cooked into a smooth dough. For eba, the cassava is grated, pressed and fried into garri, then stirred into hot water.

Soaking and sieving take away most of the rough part of the cassava. What is left is very soft starch that your body can turn into sugar with almost no effort. That is why fufu goes into your blood faster than eba.

Some people believe that because fufu is fermented, it is safer. The Makurdi study shows otherwise. Fufu is fermented, and it still scored 97.

Can a Diabetic Eat Cassava Fufu?

Yes, but it has to be handled carefully.

Three things decide what fufu does to your sugar:

• How big the ball is
• What soup and what fish, meat or egg you eat with it
• How often you eat it in a week

A safe amount for most people with diabetes is one ball the size of your fist. That is about half a cup of the cooked swallow (100g). Keep fufu to about 2 times a week, and eat other foods on the other days.

What Should You Eat With Fufu?

The soup you choose matters a lot with fufu.

A vegetable soup like efo riro, okra, ewedu, ugu or afang gives your body something to work through before the starch. Fish, chicken or an egg in the soup does the same. Together they slow down how fast the sugar from the fufu reaches your blood.

A thin soup with no vegetables in it does far less. Fufu with a light soup and a piece of meat is still mostly fufu.

But even the best soup does not turn fufu into a low glycemic food. The soup helps. It does not fix a large ball. That is why the size of the ball still matters most.

Is Wheat Fufu Good for Diabetes?

Many people switch to wheat because they believe it is safer than cassava fufu. Wheat swallow does have more of the rough part of food than semo or eba.

But the number does not support it. In a study in the Nigerian Journal of Nutritional Sciences, wheat flour dough scored 97.4. That is as high as cassava fufu.

So wheat is not an escape from fufu. Treat it the same way: one ball the size of your fist, with vegetable soup, about 2 times a week.

Semovita is made from white wheat flour, and it pushes your sugar up fast too. Treat it the same way.

Is Plantain Fufu Good for Diabetes?

This one is different, and it is good news.

Fufu made from unripe plantain flour, which many people call plantain amala, measured 52.8 in a study of unripe plantain flour meals. That is a low number, far below cassava fufu.

It was one small study, done in 12 people without diabetes, so we still treat it with care. One ball the size of your fist (100g), with vegetable soup, about 3 times a week.

One warning: some packaged "plantain fufu" flours are mixed with cassava or other starches. Look at the packet and pick one where plantain is the first thing listed.

We explain why plantain flour behaves so differently from boiled plantain in our post on whether plantain is good for diabetes.

What About Cocoyam Fufu and Yam Fufu?

Cocoyam fufu (ede) has more of the rough part of food than cassava fufu, and it raises sugar more slowly. It is still a starch. Keep to one ball the size of your fist, about 3 times a week.

Yam fufu is pounded yam, and it scored 81 in the Makurdi study. That is lower than cassava fufu, but still high. Our post on the best swallow for a diabetic in Nigeria shows how all the swallows compare.

Better and Less Suitable Ways to Eat Fufu

Better choice:

• One ball of fufu the size of your fist, with vegetable soup and fish, chicken or an egg
• Fufu about 2 times a week, not every day
• Plantain flour fufu or oat swallow on some of the days you want a swallow

Less suitable choice:

• Two or three balls of fufu at one meal
• Fufu with a thin soup and no vegetables
• Fufu every day
• Switching to wheat or semo and thinking the problem is solved

If you are not sure how much fufu or any other Nigerian food is right for you, you can check GluFloat for personalised food guidance.

Is Fufu Good for High Blood Pressure?

Plain fufu is not salty. With fufu, the salt usually comes from what is beside it: the soup, the seasoning cubes, stockfish, dry fish and crayfish.

If you have high blood pressure as well as diabetes, use less salt in your soup and fewer seasoning cubes. Try to keep to under one level teaspoon (5g) of salt in all your food for the whole day.

Is Fufu Good for Cholesterol?

Fufu itself has almost no fat. The risk for cholesterol comes from the soup again: a lot of palm oil, cow skin (pomo), and fatty red meat.

If you have high cholesterol, use less palm oil in the pot and pick fish or chicken with the skin taken off instead of red meat.

Is Fufu Good for Kidney Patients?

If you have kidney problems, the right amount of each food can be very different for you. Many soups eaten with fufu are also very salty, which is hard on the kidneys.

Ask your doctor or dietitian about your own case before changing what you eat.

Is Fufu Good for Weight Loss?

One ball of fufu the size of your fist has about 106 calories. That is not much on its own. The trouble is that fufu is soft and smooth, so it is very easy to swallow two or three balls before you feel full.

If you are trying to lose weight, the same rule helps both your weight and your sugar: one ball, plenty of vegetable soup, and fish or chicken.

The Bottom Line: Is Fufu Good for Diabetes?

Fufu raises blood sugar faster than any other common swallow in Nigeria. It scored 97 in people with diabetes, close to pure glucose.

But you do not have to give it up completely:

• Keep it to one ball the size of your fist (100g)
• Eat it with vegetable soup and fish, chicken or an egg
• Eat it about 2 times a week, not every day

Wheat fufu is no safer. Plantain flour fufu is the gentler choice when you want a swallow.

If your sugar is still high after a meal, even when you eat less, our post on why your blood sugar is high after eating explains the other things that can push it up. You can also see how fufu compares with other Nigerian foods in which Nigerian foods raise blood sugar the most.