Specifically, a group of grains called millets, which include sorghum and other seeded grasses grown as cereal crops, may help lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and lower A1C, or average blood sugar over about three months, in individuals managing diabetes, according to a  study published in July 2021 in Frontiers in Nutrition. That’s because these grains have a lower glycemic index than alternatives such as white rice and refined wheat, the study authors note. Researchers examined data from 65 small studies that, combined, had about 1,000 participants. The millets used had a mean glycemic index (GI) of 52.7, significantly lower than white rice (GI 71.7) and refined wheat (GI 74.2), the analysis found. Glycemic index scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating foods that produce bigger, and faster, spikes in blood sugar after a meal. RELATED: How Glycemic Load Can Help You Better Manage Blood Sugar The study looked at how eating millets influenced short-term blood sugar levels as well as A1C. For people with diabetes, regular consumotion of millets reduced average fasting blood sugar levels by 12 percent and decreased average post-meal blood sugar levels by 15 percent. These changes were large enough that researchers no longer considered these patients diabetic, and instead classified them as having prediabetes. When people had prediabetes, or slightly elevated blood sugar that’s not high enough for a full-blown diabetes diagnosis, millets reduced average A1C levels by 17 percent, enough for these individuals to have blood sugar in a normal, healthy range, the study also found. “The lower the GI of a food, the lower its propensity for raising blood glucose levels,” says the lead study author, Seetha Anitha, PhD, a senior scientist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Patancheru, India. RELATED: 5 Ways to Lower Your A1C “All of this together make millets an effective food for managing blood glucose levels in the long run,” Anitha says. The occasional meal with millets won’t help much, however. “Millets should become a regular part of one’s diet to have a sustainable effect on diabetes,” Anitha says. One major limitation of this latest research on millets and diabetes is that most of the studies included in the analysis were very small — some with as few as three subjects. Another limitation is that there were only two studies in the analysis that looked specifically at people with prediabetes to assess whether millets might lower blood sugar to a normal range for these individuals. RELATED: The Prediabetes Diet Everyone Should Follow

Despite the limitations of the current analysis, the results mirror findings from several earlier studies of millets and blood sugar levels. For example, a review published in August 2019 in the Journal of Food and Nutritional Disorders looked at the impact of millets on blood sugar levels in 130 healthy adults and 482 adults with type 2 diabetes. Researchers concluded that millets may reduce both fasting and post-meal blood sugar levels in healthy individuals as well as those with type 2 diabetes. Another study, published in October 2020 in the Journal of Food Biochemistry, looked at how flatbread made from millets impacted blood sugar control in 100 people with type 2 diabetes. Half the participants were randomly selected to eat the flatbread with millets for three months; this group had significantly lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure at the end of the trial than the control group who didn’t eat millets. A previous study of people with prediabetes also found a link between millets and lower blood sugar. This study, published in February 2020 in the Journal of Food Science and Technology, found that people with prediabetes had lower fasting blood sugar levels and lower A1C levels after eating foods prepared with millets. Results of the latest study add to the earlier evidence suggesting that millets may play a role in preventing or managing type 2 diabetes, says Rattan Yadav, PhD, a plant genetics researcher at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom. RELATED: What Is a Type 2 Diabetes Diet? A Complete Guide

Other Grains That May Help Lower Blood Sugar

“Millets naturally have higher amounts of fiber and slowly digestible starch in their grains compared with commonly consumed cereals such as rice, wheat, maize, and corn,” says Dr. Yadav, who wasn’t involved in the latest study. People who eat a typical Western diet tend to consume mostly unhealthy processed grains and very little millet, Yadav says. For these individuals, adding millets and cutting back on grains that are high on the glycemic index may be especially beneficial for preventing or managing type 2 diabetes, he says. While millets are among the grains recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as part of a healthy diet for blood sugar management, other grains can also be beneficial. The ADA recommends breads, cereals, and products that list whole grains as the first ingredient on the label. Grains recommended by the ADA include:

Whole-wheat flourWhole oats/oatmealWhole-grain corn/cornmealPopcornBrown riceWhole-grain ryeWhole-grain barleyWild riceBuckwheat/buckwheat flourTriticaleBulgur (cracked wheat)MilletQuinoaSorghum

Foods made from these whole grains should also have at least 3 grams of fiber and less than 6 grams of sugar per serving, according to the ADA. “To manage or avoid developing diabetes, people need to eat good food like millets and simultaneously avoid eating unhealthy foods,” Yadav says. RELATED: The Best and Worst Foods to Eat in a Type 2 Diabetes Diet