Indian Food on Trial: Roti, Rice, Millets and Metabolic Health by Dr Samir Contractor is an evidence-based clinical guide written for clinicians, dietitians and informed patients navigating India’s diabetes epidemic.
The book moves beyond popular slogans that declare one staple “good” and another “bad.” It systematically evaluates:
- Glycaemic index versus glycaemic load
- Grain structure, milling and processing effects on starch availability
- Portion size and available-carbohydrate dose
- Meal composition, food order and post-meal movement
- Host factors unique to South Asians (visceral fat, muscle mass, beta-cell reserve)
- Findings from ICMR-INDIAB and other key studies, correctly distinguishing association from causation
Each staple is examined with balanced clinical notes: traditional roti can remain practical when size, number and formulation are controlled; polished white rice shows the clearest adverse prospective signal at high habitual intakes; millets offer favourable acute glycaemic properties in selected forms but lack strong long-term outcome data for class-wide therapeutic claims.
The emphasis throughout is practical and cautious: judge the whole system—grain + processing + dose + meal + dietary pattern + patient—rather than substituting one grain for another in isolation. Clear key takeaways, evidence-strength hierarchies and clinical caveats make the book immediately useful at the bedside and in counselling.
