Sorghum
Food · Grain · Food, Typed Supps
A gluten-free whole grain that keeps its bran, because there is no easy way to take it off.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Long cooking required): The intact pericarp resists water, so the grain needs soaking and long simmering.
- Digestion (Slow starch hydrolysis): Bran and cross-linked kafirin proteins shield starch granules from amylase.
- Bloodstream (Gradual glucose release): Glucose enters more slowly than from refined grains; tannins in dark varieties also bind non-heme iron.
- Large intestine (Fermented by gut bacteria): Fibre and resistant starch are fermented to short-chain fatty acids.
Time to effect
- Weeks: Changes in stool bulk and regularity from the fibre typically appear within one to two weeks.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Low-FODMAP, Gluten-free.
Satiety
129 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: 350
- Protein: 8.2g
- Carbohydrate: 65.8g
- of which sugars: 1.2g
- Fat: 3.6g
- of which saturated: 0.4g
- Fibre: 8.6g
- Sodium: 1mg
Food vs. supplement
A fibre supplement delivers fibre alone. Sorghum delivers 8.6g per 100g together with magnesium, selenium, thiamin and protein, plus a slow-digesting starch structure that no powder reproduces.
Kitchen tip
Soak overnight, then simmer 45-60 minutes until the grains just split. It also pops in a dry pan like popcorn, giving a small dense puff.
Common myth
"Sorghum's polyphenols make it an antioxidant superfood." In reality: The polyphenols are real, but the condensed tannins responsible are also antinutrients — they reduce protein digestibility and inhibit non-heme iron absorption. White varieties are essentially tannin-free. The honest case for sorghum is its fibre, magnesium and slow starch digestion, not its antioxidant score.
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