Nutrition chart · Yado Market, Chicago
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Yes, traditional African food is full of healthy staples. We put 20 everyday African foods through the U.S. government's food database (USDA FoodData Central) and lined them up next to white rice and white bread.1 Beans, egusi, groundnuts, greens, yam and fish are rich in protein, fiber, iron or potassium; cooked beans beat cooked white rice on all four. The catch: starchy swallows like cassava are mostly carbs, so the soup on the side matters.
Quick answer (per 100 g)
- Protein: cooked beans 7.7 to 8.7 g vs cooked white rice 2.7 g. Egusi seeds and groundnuts: 26 to 28 g.1
- Fiber: cooked beans 6.5 to 7.4 g vs cooked white rice 0.4 g.1
- Potassium: cooked kidney beans 403 mg vs cooked white rice 35 mg. Raw yam: 816 mg.1
- Iron: teff 7.6 mg and egusi seeds 7.3 mg lead the list.1
- Sugar: green plantain 2.3 g, but ripe (yellow) plantain 17.5 g.1
The short answer: the staples are healthy, the plate is what counts
"Is African food healthy?" depends on what's on the plate. A West or Central African meal is usually a swallow or starch (fufu, eba, pounded yam, rice, plantain) with a soup or stew (egusi, okra, groundnut, greens) and fish, meat or beans. The numbers below show the soups, beans, seeds and greens carry most of the protein, iron, fiber and vitamins, while the starches mostly bring energy.
All numbers are per 100 g from USDA FoodData Central.1 Some foods are raw and some cooked (we say which in the full chart), so compare like with like.
Which African foods are high in protein?
Egusi seeds and groundnuts are rich in protein and fat (47 to 49 g of fat per 100 g), so a handful goes a long way.1 Beans give protein with very little fat. What is egusi?
Which African foods are high in iron?
Adults need 8 mg of iron a day (men, and women 51+) or 18 mg (women 19 to 50).2 Plant iron is absorbed less well, but the NIH says your body absorbs it better "when you eat it with meat, poultry, seafood, and foods that contain vitamin C," like tomatoes and sweet peppers.2 Egusi soup with tomato, pepper, leafy greens and fish does exactly that. White bread and rice score higher than you'd expect because US versions are enriched with added iron.1
Which African foods are high in potassium?
Adults need 3,400 mg (men) or 2,600 mg (women) of potassium a day.3 Yam, cocoyam, plantain, greens and groundnuts are rich sources. On a kidney diet? High-potassium foods may need limiting; ask your doctor or dietitian.4
Which African foods are high in fiber?
Whole grains (millet, teff, sorghum) and beans lead. White rice has almost none: 0.4 g.1 Swapping some rice for beans or millet is an easy win.
Low-sugar African foods (and the plantain surprise)
Almost every staple here is low in sugar. The exception is ripe plantain: 17.5 g of sugar per 100 g when yellow, vs 2.3 g when green.1 If you're watching sugar, choose green plantain (boiled or roasted) over very ripe dodo. These are natural sugars; the American Heart Association's limits are for added sugar: no more than 36 g a day for men and 25 g for women.5
Full nutrition chart: 20 African staples vs rice and bread
Per 100 g, from USDA FoodData Central.1 Swipe sideways on your phone.
| Food (per 100 g) | State | Calories | Protein g | Carbs g | Fiber g | Sugars g | Iron mg | Potassium mg | Calcium mg | Vit C mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cassava | raw | 160 | 1.4 | 38.1 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 271 | 16 | 20.6 |
| Plantain, green | raw | 152 | 1.2 | 36.7 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 431 | 2 | 20.2 |
| Plantain, yellow (ripe) | raw | 122 | 1.3 | 31.9 | 1.7 | 17.5 | 0.6 | 487 | 3 | 18.4 |
| Yam | raw | 118 | 1.5 | 27.9 | 4.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 816 | 17 | 17.1 |
| Taro (cocoyam) | raw | 112 | 1.5 | 26.5 | 4.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 591 | 43 | 4.5 |
| Sweet potato | raw | 86 | 1.6 | 20.1 | 3 | 4.2 | 0.6 | 337 | 30 | 2.4 |
| Black-eyed peas (cowpeas) | boiled | 116 | 7.7 | 20.8 | 6.5 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 278 | 24 | 0.4 |
| Red kidney beans | boiled | 127 | 8.7 | 22.8 | 7.4 | 0.3 | 2.9 | 403 | 28 | 1.2 |
| Egusi (watermelon seed kernels)* | dried | 557 | 28.3 | 15.3 | n/a | n/a | 7.3 | 648 | 54 | 0 |
| Peanuts (groundnuts) | raw | 567 | 25.8 | 16.1 | 8.5 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 705 | 92 | 0 |
| Okra | raw | 33 | 1.9 | 7.5 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 299 | 82 | 23 |
| Amaranth leaves (efo tete) | raw | 23 | 2.5 | 4 | n/a | n/a | 2.3 | 611 | 215 | 43.3 |
| Spinach | raw | 23 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 558 | 99 | 28.1 |
| Millet | raw grain | 378 | 11 | 72.8 | 8.5 | n/a | 3 | 195 | 8 | 0 |
| Sorghum | grain | 329 | 10.6 | 72.1 | 6.7 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 363 | 13 | 0 |
| Teff | uncooked | 367 | 13.3 | 73.1 | 8 | 1.8 | 7.6 | 427 | 180 | n/a |
| Tilapia | cooked | 128 | 26.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 | 380 | 14 | 0 |
| Mackerel, Atlantic | raw | 205 | 18.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.6 | 314 | 12 | 0.4 |
| Palm oil | oil | 884 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| White rice (for comparison) | cooked | 130 | 2.7 | 28.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 35 | 10 | 0 |
| White bread (for comparison) | store-bought | 266 | 8.8 | 49.4 | 2.7 | 5.7 | 3.6 | 126 | 144 | 0 |
* USDA has no "egusi" entry; the closest match is dried watermelon seed kernels. "n/a" means USDA lists no value. Palm oil is 100% fat (884 calories per 100 g)1; red palm oil has no separate USDA entry. Cassava must always be cooked or processed: fermenting and roasting are what make garri safe, cutting its cyanide.6
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FAQ
Is African food healthy?
The staples are: beans, egusi, groundnuts, leafy greens, okra, yam and fish are rich in protein, fiber, iron or potassium.1 Balance the starchy swallow with plenty of soup and greens.
What African foods are high in protein?
Per 100 g: egusi seeds 28.3 g, tilapia 26.2 g, groundnuts 25.8 g, mackerel 18.6 g, teff 13.3 g.1
How much protein is in black-eyed peas?
7.7 g per 100 g of boiled black-eyed peas (cowpeas), with 6.5 g of fiber and 2.5 mg of iron.1 They are the beans in moi moi and akara.
What African foods are high in iron?
Teff 7.6 mg and egusi seeds 7.3 mg per 100 g, then groundnuts, sorghum, millet, beans and greens.1 Eat them with vitamin C foods to absorb more.2
What African foods are high in potassium?
Yam (816 mg per 100 g), groundnuts, egusi seeds, amaranth greens and cocoyam.1
What African foods are low in sugar?
Yam, cocoyam, green plantain, cassava, okra, greens, beans and fish are all low in sugar. Ripe plantain is the high one at 17.5 g per 100 g.1
Is fufu healthy?
Fufu is mostly starch with very little sugar; the soup brings most of the protein and vitamins. See fufu nutrition facts.
Is plantain healthy?
Plantain gives potassium and vitamin C. Green plantain has 2.3 g of sugar per 100 g; ripe yellow plantain has 17.5 g.1
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy dataset (per 100 g). Food IDs: cassava 169985, green plantain 168215, yellow plantain 169130, yam 170071, taro 169308, sweet potato 168482, cowpeas 173759, kidney beans 175194, watermelon seed kernels 169407, peanuts 172430, okra 169260, amaranth leaves 168385, spinach 168462, millet 169702, sorghum 169716, teff 169747, tilapia 175177, Atlantic mackerel 175119, palm oil 171015, white rice 168878, white bread 174924. fdc.nal.usda.gov
- Iron: Fact Sheet for Consumers, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.
- Potassium: Fact Sheet for Consumers, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.
- Potassium and Your CKD Diet, National Kidney Foundation.
- How Much Sugar Is Too Much?, American Heart Association.
- Laya A et al. Effect of Harvest Period on the Proximate Composition and Functional and Sensory Properties of Gari. Int J Food Sci, 2018; and Hahn SK, An overview of traditional processing and utilization of cassava in Africa, FAO.