Pancake
Food · Grain · Food, Typed Supps
The batter is mostly flour, egg and milk. The sugar comes from what you put on top.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Soft, minimal chewing): Cooking has gelatinised the starch, so the pancake is soft and breaks down easily.
- Digestion (Rapid starch breakdown): Amylase acts quickly on gelatinised refined-flour starch, with little fibre to slow it.
- Absorption (Glucose, protein and fat): Glucose absorbs fast, though egg protein and milk fat slow gastric emptying and flatten the curve.
- Beyond (Calcium and B12 from the dairy): The calcium, vitamin A and B12 come from the egg and milk in the batter, not from the flour.
Time to effect
- Under an hour: Blood glucose peaks around 30 to 45 minutes, sooner and higher with syrup.
Allergens
Contains: Gluten. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
115 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — moderate. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
1.6 kg CO2e and 648 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Wheat & rye" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £2.5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 222
- Protein: 7.4g
- Carbohydrate: 30.3g
- of which sugars: 4.2g
- Fat: 7.6g
- of which saturated: 4.5g
- Fibre: 0.8g
- Sodium: 79mg
Food vs. supplement
Not applicable. The meaningful lever is the flour and egg ratio in the batter, not anything added on the side.
Kitchen tip
Rest the batter for 30 minutes, and if you want fibre swap a third of the flour for wholemeal or buckwheat. Cook chemically leavened batters promptly once mixed.
Common myth
“Pancakes are a sugary breakfast.” In reality: The batter contains around four grams of sugar per 100g and no added sugar at all. Syrup, sugar and sweet toppings are where a pancake breakfast's sugar actually comes from.
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