Mango Glycemic Index

The mango glycemic index is 51 — moderate — meaning a standard serving raises blood sugar more slowly than white bread (GI 75). Ripe Alphonso mangoes from Ratnagiri, available February to June, reach 18–24° Brix and deliver roughly 30–36 mg vitamin C per 100 g.

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Two products below. One for those who want the full fresh-fruit experience, one for a daily nutrition hit that works year-round.

Alphonso vs Kesar: Which suits diabetics better?

Factor	Ratnagiri Alphonso	Devgad Alphonso	Kesar (Gir/Junagadh)
GI Tag	GI No. 139	GI No. 139	GI No. 185
Brix at full ripeness	18–24°	18–24° (typically upper range)	Varies by season
Season window	February – June	February – June	March – June
Fruit weight (by grade)	150–300 g	150–300 g	Varies
Diabetic portion note	~100 g (Small grade, 150–180 g, split across two meals)	~100 g (same practice)	~100 g
Ripening method	Natural hay-bed (Aadi), no carbide	Natural hay-bed (Aadi), no carbide	Natural hay-bed, no carbide
Indicative price	Check current season listing	Check current season listing	₹999 – ₹1,699

Devgad fruit from villages like Jamsande and Vijaydurg tends to sit at the upper end of the 18–24° Brix window. A sweeter fruit still carries the same moderate GI — what changes the glycaemic response is portion size and what you eat alongside it, not the variety.

Delivery Across India

Fruit leaves our Malvan packing centre or Devgad packing point within 48–72 hours of harvest. Air-conditioned vehicles bring it to our Mumbai packhouse, where it rests on hay for 24–48 hours before dispatch. Fruit goes out at 70–80% ripeness — firm enough to survive the journey, fully ripe within about three days of delivery.

Courier is BlueDart, Delhivery, Ekart or XpressBees depending on your pin code. Metro cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune) typically receive their order in 20–24 hours. Other cities: 1–3 days. We reach 15,000–17,000 serviceable pin codes across India.

Each mango travels in a foam-net sleeve inside a 12-slot partition inside a 5-ply corrugated fibreboard box with six air holes. The partition carries transit pressure. The fruit does not.

We do not dispatch fresh Alphonso between July and January. If you are reading this outside the March–June peak, the Kesar listing may still be open, and our roasted pumpkin seeds ship year-round.

How to Order

1. Step 1 — Select your product. For fresh mango, choose Kesar (₹999–₹1,699) or check the current Alphonso listing for the season grade — Small (150–180 g), Medium (180–225 g), Extra Large (250–275 g) or Jumbo (275–300 g). For a year-round low-GI snack, roasted pumpkin seeds are available now at ₹200–₹750.
2. Step 2 — Add to cart. Box options for fresh mango are half dozen, one dozen or two dozen. Choose the size that matches your household's weekly consumption — splitting a dozen into two or three meals across a week is practical for anyone monitoring blood sugar.
3. Step 3 — Place your order. Dispatch is by BlueDart, Delhivery, Ekart or XpressBees depending on your pin code, reaching most Indian cities in 1–3 days. Transit-damaged or quality-failed fruit is replaced with a fresh dispatch or credited to your account — report within 24 hours of delivery with photos or video on WhatsApp, no physical return needed.

What is the Glycemic Index?

The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood glucose compared to pure glucose, which is set at 100. It was developed by Dr David Jenkins at the University of Toronto in 1981 and has been used in dietary planning since.

A food with GI 51 — where mango sits — raises blood sugar at roughly half the rate of pure glucose. That is a meaningful difference from white bread (GI ~75) or a glucose drink, though it is still higher than, say, chickpeas (GI ~28).

The Glycemic Load (GL) is the number that matters more in practice. GL = (GI × grams of carbohydrate per serving) ÷ 100. A 100 g serving of ripe mango contains roughly 15 g of carbohydrate, giving a GL of about 7.6 — well within the low range (GL below 10 is considered low). That means a controlled portion of mango has a genuinely modest effect on blood glucose.

GI categories and where mango sits

GI Category	GI Range	Examples
Low	Below 55	Mango (51), lentils, most legumes
Medium	55–69	Basmati rice, ripe banana
High	70 and above	White bread, glucose drinks, watermelon

Mango's GI of 51 technically places it at the top of the low category, not the middle of the medium range. Many nutrition guides loosely call it "moderate" — which is accurate enough, but it is worth knowing that 51 clears the low-GI threshold (below 55) used by the Mayo Clinic and Diabetes UK.

How to use a Glycemic Index calculator for mango

A GI calculator takes three inputs: the GI value, the serving weight, and the carbohydrate content. For mango: GI 51, serving 100 g, carbohydrates ~15 g. GL = (51 × 15) ÷ 100 = 7.65. A GL below 10 is low. Adjust the serving weight proportionally — 150 g of mango gives GL ~11.5, which crosses into the medium GL range.

What affects the GI of mango?

Ripeness of the fruit

This is where our grading table taught us something we had not expected. We assumed Devgad fruit, typically reading 20–24° Brix, would behave very differently from an 18° Brix Ratnagiri piece. In practice, the GI of a food reflects the rate of glucose release, not the total sugar content. A riper mango does contain more simple sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), which digest faster — so a very ripe fruit likely sits at the higher end of the 51 range, and a firmer, less-ripe fruit at the lower end.

We dispatch at 70–80% ripeness precisely because this balance matters. The fruit finishes ripening at room temperature over about three days after delivery, giving you a window to eat it before it peaks.

Nutrient composition and fibre

Mango contains pectin, dietary fibre and amylase-resistant starch (higher in less-ripe fruit, falling as ripeness increases). These slow glucose absorption. The fibre is the primary reason mango's GI stays moderate despite its sweetness.

Type of sugar

Ripe mango contains fructose, glucose and sucrose in roughly equal proportions. Fructose has a GI near zero on its own; glucose is GI 100. The blend, combined with the fibre matrix, is what produces GI 51. Consuming mango with protein or fat — a handful of pumpkin seeds, for instance — slows gastric emptying and reduces the effective GL further.

Acidity

Organic acids in mango (citric, malic) slow starch digestion slightly, contributing to the moderate GI. Alphonso fruit from coastal Konkan orchards in Pawas, Golap and Nachane has a characteristic acid-sweet balance that distinguishes it from inland varieties — this is not a minor flavour detail; it affects how the sugar is released.

Processing and cooking method

Raw mango has a lower GI than mango juice. Removing the fibre through juicing raises the effective GI because glucose hits the bloodstream without the fibre buffer. Aamras (mango pulp without added sugar) retains more fibre than a strained juice, so its GI is closer to fresh fruit. Mango pulp with sugar added behaves differently again — check the label.

Mango nutrition facts relevant to blood sugar

Per 100 g of ripe Alphonso pulp:

• Vitamin C: roughly 30–36 mg — about 40–45% of the ICMR-NIN 2020 RDA for adult men (80 mg/day) and about 50% for adult women (65 mg/day)
• Carbohydrates: ~15 g (includes fibre, pectin, starch and sugars)
• Calories: low — mango is not a calorie-dense food at normal portions
• Vitamins A, E, B6, folate, calcium, zinc

Mangiferin, a xanthone compound found in mango, showed anti-inflammatory activity in a cell study by Govindappa et al. (2011). Cell studies do not automatically translate to clinical outcomes, but the compound is real and measurable.

Our fruit is independently tested by Envirocare Labs Pvt. Ltd., Thane (NABL accredited, certificate TC-8284, report 01/ETHAP2500044, issued 5 April 2025). All 28 residues were within Codex maximum residue limits; 27 of 28 were below the limit of quantification (0.01 mg/kg). One residue — thiamethoxam — was detected at 0.013 mg/kg against a Codex limit of 0.2 mg/kg. We say "independently tested, all residues within Codex limits." We do not say "pesticide-free."

Eating mango with diabetes

The honest answer: yes, people with diabetes can eat mangoes, but portion control is not optional. A 100 g serving (roughly half a Small-grade Alphonso, which weighs 150–180 g) gives GL ~7.6 — a genuinely low glycaemic load. Eating a whole Jumbo-grade fruit (275–300 g) in one sitting approximately triples that load.

Practical adjustments that work for our customers who manage diabetes:

• Eat mango after a protein-rich meal, not as a standalone snack on an empty stomach.
• Pair it with a low-GI food — roasted pumpkin seeds are a practical option we stock year-round.
• Do not drink mango juice as a substitute — juice removes fibre and raises the effective GI significantly.
• Time the serving away from other high-carbohydrate foods in the same meal.

We are not a medical practice. If you manage Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes with medication or insulin, consult your doctor or a registered dietitian before changing your fruit intake.

What we can say from five seasons of customer feedback: the customers who do best with mango and blood sugar are those who treat it as a measured serving, not a free food. The GI of 51 earns mango a place on the plate — it does not make portion size irrelevant.

Mango and weight management

Mango is low in calories relative to its fibre and micronutrient content. A 100 g serving is filling because of the fibre and water content, not calorie-dense. That said, eating large quantities daily through the April–May peak, when prices drop and fruit is abundant, can add up. Two to three 100 g servings per day, replacing a higher-calorie snack, is a sensible upper bound if weight is a concern.

The Jumbo grade (275–300 g per fruit) from Devgad is genuinely large — one fruit at a sitting is a full carbohydrate serving for most adults, not a light snack. The Small grade (150–180 g) suits portion-conscious eating more naturally.

We do not ship between July and January. If you want to manage weight with mangoes, the window is February to June. Outside that window, mango pulp (Aamras) is an option, though it is a processed product and behaves differently from fresh fruit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Authority

Powle Home Foods (founder Prashant Powle) operates AlphonsoMango.in under GI Authorised User certificate AU/5974/GI/139/260 (GI Registry Certificate No. 4163, issued 16 October 2019), FSSAI licence 10020022011783 and APEDA registration 225579. All Alphonso fruit is ripened on natural hay beds (Aadi method) in temperature-controlled rooms — no ethylene chambers, no calcium carbide, no artificial ripening agents of any kind. Prashant Powle directly manages sourcing from 55 named villages across Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, with every fruit weighed, graded and scanned by AI/ML-assisted equipment for internal and external deformities before packing.

Source: Powle Home Foods (AlphonsoMango.in), Envirocare Labs NABL report 01/ETHAP2500044, issued 5 April 2025 — all 28 pesticide residues within Codex maximum residue limits.

People Also Ask

Can a diabetic person eat mango?

Yes, a person with diabetes can eat mango in a controlled portion. A 100 g serving has a GI of 51 and a glycaemic load of about 7.6 — both within the low range. Pairing that portion with protein or fibre slows glucose absorption further. Timing matters: mid-morning or post-meal is better than eating mango on an empty stomach.

Natural hay-bed ripening, which we use for every fruit from Ratnagiri and Devgad, produces no artificial sugar spike from carbide or ethylene — the sweetness is the fruit's own, at the variety's natural Brix.

Which fruit is lowest in glycemic index?

Cherries have one of the lowest GI readings of any fruit, at around 20. Grapefruit sits near 25, and plums near 35. Among tropical fruits commonly eaten in India, mango at GI 51 is lower than pineapple and ripe banana. Portion size and ripeness shift the practical effect more than variety comparisons do.

Does watermelon have a high glycemic index?

Watermelon has a GI of roughly 72, which places it in the high category alongside white bread. However, its glycaemic load per 100 g is low — around 4 — because watermelon is mostly water and carries very little carbohydrate per serving. A small slice raises blood sugar less than its GI number alone suggests.

Mango at GI 51 compares favourably: a 100 g portion gives a glycaemic load of about 7.6, still in the low range, with 30–36 mg of vitamin C per 100 g alongside it.

For a deeper look at how harvest and ripening affect flavour, read our guide to what makes Alphonso mango distinct and our detailed post on eating mango safely with diabetes.

Shop the Mango Collection — season runs February to June