The Underrated Ancient Grain That Supports Digestive Health And Lower Blood Sugar

Move aside, millet. Take a timeout, teff. There's another type of ancient grain available to consumers that offers support for multiple digestive system functions.

Ancient grains are grains that haven't changed in how they're sown and harvested over thousands of years. Most ancient grains tend to be sustainable crops that are resistant to climate fluctuations. (Sorghum requires 36% less water to grow versus other grains, according to the United Sorghum Checkoff Program.) But ancient grains aren't just environmentally fascinating; part of their contemporary allure surrounds their nutritional components that make them functional whole foods. (You might even want to replace white flour by choosing these grains.) This is where sorghum comes into the discussion. 

Sorghum is an ancient grain that you might have overlooked. As functional medicine dietitian Kaytee Hadley explained (via Food and Wine), "Many consumers aren't familiar with sorghum because it's often used as an ingredient in other foods." However, Hadley added that its popularity is growing due to expanding consumer awareness. It's not as common in Western-diet foods, but it's gaining buzz thanks to its nutrient-rich profile. A 100-gram serving of uncooked sorghum, for instance, contains 6.7 grams of soluble and insoluble fiber, making it potentially healthy for your gut.

The fiber in sorghum acts in two ways in your stomach and digestive tract. First, the soluble fiber feeds the good bacteria in your gut microbiome. (This makes sorghum a prebiotic — and you may find that getting more prebiotics in your diet if you're stressed pays off.) Meanwhile, the insoluble fiber in sorghum keeps food moving along so you avoid the discomfort and challenges of poor digestion like irregularity.

The soluble fiber in sorghum provides another benefit that you might seek out if you monitor your blood sugar. Since fiber slows down how quickly the body removes nutrients from food, blood sugar readings are less likely to skyrocket after meals. A 2024 review in the Journal of Food Science revealed that consumption of sorghum normalized blood sugar levels in diabetic animal subjects across several studies. 

Per the review, humans would need to eat between 93 and 96 grams of uncooked sorghum grain daily to experience similar positive effects. But studies using human subjects didn't produce consistent blood sugar-lowering results, so more research may be warranted. That said, a 2024 review in the Journal of Food Science noted that eating unrefined sorghum grain products could help slow down post-meal increases in human blood sugar levels. Accordingly, sorghum as a protective agent for those who are prediabetic or diabetic seems to have some evidence-based traction.

If all this information makes you want to buy some whole sorghum grain or sorghum-based flour, you may want to prepare some recipes first. That way, your sorghum transition will be easier because you'll know how to use it as a versatile ingredient.

Looking for streamlined and creative ways to incorporate sorghum into your upcoming meal rotation? Try swapping sorghum for wheat flour, which can be done in a one-to-one ratio. Since sorghum is gluten-free, you'll need more binding agents (e.g., fats, eggs) in your baking to give your finished product a more palatable texture and taste. You may also find it simpler to mix sorghum flour with another flour.

You can also incorporate sorghum grains into your homemade granola. Using both sorghum grain and sorghum flour alongside oats, butter, and pecans, sorghum granola is a honey-sweetened, easy-to-make food that can be added to various recipes or eaten on its own as a snack.