Rye vs Sourdough: Which bread is better for blood sugar control?
For diabetics, mindful choices can help control insulin levels and keep spikes under check. If you are confused between rye and sourdough and curious about their impact on your insulin level, indianexpress.com comes to you with inputs from a nutritionist.
Deepika Sharma, personal fitness expert with a focus on functional nutrition, told indianexpress.com that the primary difference between rye and sourdough is that rye is a grain and sourdough is a process. Still, both show up a lot in conversations around digestion, gut health, and blood sugar, so it's worth unpacking.
'Rye bread (the dense, old-school kind — not the soft, sweetened stuff from supermarket shelves) is naturally high in fibre. It's got these slow-digesting carbs that help keep your blood sugar steady. It's also rich in something called arabinoxylans, basically food for your good gut bacteria. So it's not just about sugar spikes, it's also about how your gut holds up over time,' said Sharma.
Sourdough, on the other hand, is more of a technique.
According to her, it can be made with rye, wheat, spelt, whatever flour you choose.
'What makes it different is the wild fermentation. Instead of commercial yeast, it uses natural bacteria and yeast (mostly lactobacilli) that slowly break things down, including carbs and gluten,' she explained, adding that the process is what makes it easier to digest, lowers the glycemic load, and even reduces compounds that block mineral absorption.
'If you're eating rye sourdough, that's the sweet spot, you get both the grain and the fermentation benefits,' said Sharma. If it's a basic rye vs a good white sourdough, then the sourdough often comes out ahead, especially if it's slow-fermented and made with whole grains, she added.
The part most people miss? It's not just the ingredient. It's how it's made. 'A fluffy, fast-baked rye with added sugar won't do much for your gut. But a slow-fermented whole wheat sourdough? That's a different story,' said Sharma. More often than not, labels don't tell the whole truth. The process does, she concluded.
Nutritionist Apeksha Chandurkar, founder of Balanced Bite, added that according to dietary recommendations, consuming plain or toasted bread solely depends on the individual's health status and preference. Between the both, toasted bread, which has a slightly lower GI (glycaemic index), could help keep blood glucose levels in check compared to plain bread.
Another way to reduce glucose spikes is to freeze and thaw bread. 'Take a plain slice of bread. Put it in a box or container. Freeze it in the refrigerator. The next day, you toast it. This reduces blood sugar spikes by 40 percent. When it is frozen and thawed, resistance starch forms, which is great for gut bacteria,' she added.
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