Dr. Dante Ruskin, diabetologist & intensivist Dr. Dante Ruskin Diabetes & Critical Care Specialist
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Is Squid (Kanava / Koonthal) Good for Diabetes?

IN MODERATION

In moderation, yes. Squid itself is close to ideal for blood sugar — about 3 g of carbohydrate and 1.4 g of fat per 100 g raw, with 15.6 g of protein (USDA). What earns kanava only a moderation verdict is the form it usually arrives in: battered, deep-fried rings.

Answered by Dr. Dante Ruskin · Diabetologist & Intensivist

Squid is high in dietary cholesterol — roughly 233 mg per 100 g — which matters more if your lipid panel is already unhappy. Eaten as a dry roast with shallots and a little coconut oil, once a week or two, kanava is a reasonable non-veg choice. The batter-fried plate is not.

Why kanava sits in the moderation column

Squid is one of the few foods where the animal and the dish deserve separate verdicts. Per 100 g of raw squid, USDA FoodData Central records about 92 kcal, 15.6 g of protein, 3.1 g of carbohydrate and only 1.4 g of fat, very little of it saturated. For blood glucose that is close to a free food: the small carbohydrate figure is stored glycogen, not sugar, and squid eaten plain will not move a two-hour reading in any way you would notice. Two things complicate the picture. The first is cholesterol — roughly 233 mg per 100 g, well above most fin fish landed at the same harbour. The second, and the bigger one, is that almost nobody in this district eats kanava plain.

The batter is the problem, not the squid

Kanava fry as it is actually sold — at the Chinnamuttom side, on the Colachel road, at the evening thattukadai along the Marthandam stretch — is rings turned in maida or rava, dropped into deep oil that has been working since morning, and eaten with parotta or as a snack with tea. USDA’s entry for floured, fried squid comes to about 175 kcal and 7.8 g of carbohydrate per 100 g: the carbohydrate has more than doubled and the fat has gone from 1.4 g to over 7 g, most of it absorbed oil. Then comes what sits beside it. Two parottas turn an almost carbohydrate-free protein into one of the heaviest glucose loads on the menu — the same arithmetic that runs the fry-versus-curry answer for fin fish.

Roast beats fry, and two minutes beats twenty

Kanava roast — koonthal ularthiyathu on the Kerala side — is the version I am glad to see on a patient’s plate. Shallots, ginger, garlic, curry leaf, chilli and a spoon of coconut oil in the kadai, the squid going in last. Nothing is coated, so nothing absorbs. The district’s own low-oil habit works here too: avicha meen, simmered with ground coconut and tamarind instead of fried, takes squid as happily as it takes seer, and a kudampuli curry on the Kollemcode side adds nothing to the sugar load. One cook’s rule explains most bad kanava: squid is tender for the first two minutes and again after twenty, and rubbery in between. Batter and deep oil are how a kitchen hides that mistake. Cook it briefly or braise it slowly, and the batter has no job left to do.

What the cholesterol number really means

Dietary cholesterol is not the villain it was made out to be in the 1980s. Major guidelines no longer set a hard daily milligram cap, because saturated fat, trans fat and refined carbohydrate move blood lipids far more than cholesterol eaten at the table. That is not a licence, especially in diabetes: the advice is still to keep dietary cholesterol low inside an otherwise sound diet, and a minority of people — the hyper-responders — genuinely do push their LDL up on high-cholesterol foods. So the practical position is individual. If your lipid panel is at target, squid once a week or two is a small thing. If your LDL is high, kanava is one of the first items I ask a patient to make occasional, alongside the fried-food habit that usually travels with it — while any change to your cholesterol medicines stays your doctor’s call. The longer version sits on cholesterol and Indian hearts.

An honest portion, and what goes on the plate

A sensible serving is 100 to 150 g cooked — a small bowl of roast, not a shared platter of rings. Once a week, or once a fortnight if your cholesterol is high, suits most people with diabetes, and that is roughly how often squid turns up anyway: in the nearest household survey to this belt (coastal Malappuram, 2022 — a proxy, not Kanyakumari data), fewer than one household in ten bought squid, against nine in ten buying sardine. Build the plate the way you would for any non-veg meal here: squid and vegetables first, a measured portion of rice or kappa second, the parotta kept for another day. And keep the oily small fish in the rotation — sardine and mackerel carry the omega-3 fats that squid, for all its virtues, does not.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes — about 233 mg per 100 g (USDA FoodData Central), higher than most fin fish on the same market table. The fat that comes with it is very low, though: 1.4 g per 100 g raw, and barely any of that saturated. If your lipid panel is at target this is a minor issue. If your LDL is high, make kanava occasional rather than weekly.

Plain squid barely moves it. There are only about 3 g of carbohydrate in 100 g, and that is stored glycogen rather than sugar. What raises the reading is the maida or rava coating, the oil the rings soak up, and the parotta or rice served alongside. Judge the dish, not the animal — a battered plate behaves nothing like a dry roast.

The roast, without question. Nothing is coated, so nothing absorbs frying oil: a dry kanava roast or koonthal ularthiyathu with shallots and a spoon of coconut oil keeps the protein and skips the refined flour. Battered rings pick up roughly six extra grams of fat and more than double the carbohydrate per 100 g compared with plain squid.

Once a week, or once a fortnight if your cholesterol is high, at around 100 to 150 g cooked. That is close to how often squid appears in coastal households here anyway — it is an occasion food, not a daily one. Rotate it with sardine, mackerel and anchovy, which carry the omega-3 fats squid does not.

The same animal, usually the same treatment — rings in a flour batter, deep-fried, served with a mayonnaise or sweet-chilli dip. The dip is worth watching as much as the batter: a sweet sauce can carry more sugar than anything else on the plate. Ask for it grilled or tossed dry if the kitchen is willing.

All three sit in the same moderation column for the same reason: very little fat, a lot of dietary cholesterol, and a local habit of frying them or finishing them in coconut. Squid carries the most cholesterol of the three, prawn next, crab the least — but the cooking method decides far more than the choice between them.