Bajra vs Wheat atta: nutrition per 100 g

Bajra (pearl millet) is one of the few grains where fat makes a real difference. It has 5.4 g per 100 g, about 3.6 times the 1.5 g in atta, and ranks 3rd for fat among the 14 cereals and millets. Most of it is unsaturated, including 140 mg of the plant omega-3 fat ALA against 45 mg in atta. The extra fat explains bajra's 348 kcal against atta's 320 kcal.

Protein is a dead heat: 11.0 g in bajra and 10.6 g in atta, each meeting about a fifth of an adult's daily requirement per 100 g. Atta has a little more carbohydrate, 64.2 g against 61.8 g, and slightly more natural sugar, 1.8 g against 0.8 g.

Bajra has 11.5 g of dietary fibre per 100 g and atta 11.4 g, so whole wheat atta matches the millet almost exactly. This is a useful reminder that switching from atta to bajra is not a fibre upgrade, even though both are a big step up from maida or polished rice. The real gains from adding bajra to the week lie in its iron and its variety, not in its fibre count.

Bajra has 6.42 mg of iron per 100 g, which ranks 3rd among the 14 cereals and millets and 30th of 242 foods in IFCT 2017. That covers 34 per cent of a man's daily iron requirement and 22 per cent of a woman's, against 22 and 14 per cent for atta. Bajra also has more potassium, 365 mg against 311 mg. Iron from grains is absorbed less well than iron from meat, so bajra rotla eaten with lemon, tomato or amla works harder than bajra alone.

Atta holds its own elsewhere. It has 53.1 micrograms of selenium against 30.4, and slightly more phosphorus, 315 mg against 289 mg. Zinc, magnesium and calcium are practically tied between the two flours, with calcium low in both, 27 and 31 mg.

Atta is richer in thiamine, 0.42 mg against 0.25 mg, and in niacin, 2.37 mg against 0.86 mg, about 2.8 times as much. Bajra has more beta-carotene, 28 micrograms to atta's 3, plus a little more riboflavin and folate. In Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, bajra rotla with white butter, jaggery and garlic chutney is a winter ritual, along with bajra khichdi and raab. Atta stays the year-round flour for phulka and paratha. All figures are for dry flour, before water and cooking change the weight.