Nutrition & health

તલ (Sesame Seeds) ખાવાના અદભુત ફાયદા — The Winter Seed, By the Numbers

Is til as good for bones and health as people say, and how much should I eat?

Whole sesame carries 975 mg of calcium and 14.6 mg of iron per 100 g, with 17.7 g of protein and mostly unsaturated fat. Hulled sesame has far less calcium. What trials say about blood pressure, and what jaggery does to a chikki.

By Pure Bites Kitchen & Nutrition Desk · Sourced nutrition, food safety and kitchen notes · Pure Bites, Surat

29 September 2026 · 5 min read

Every Gujarati winter arrives with તલ: in the chikki at Uttarayan, the ladoo, the tadka on a handvo, the sprinkle on a muthia. The seed earns its place. Whole sesame is dense in calcium, iron and magnesium, its fat is mostly unsaturated, and there is trial evidence — modest, but real — on blood pressure. Two details decide how much of that you get: whether the seed still has its hull, and how much jaggery came with it.

Sesame seeds benefits at a glance

• Calcium, if the hull is on — 975 mg per 100 g in whole seeds; 60 mg in hulled kernels.
• Iron, magnesium and zinc — 14.6 mg, 351 mg and 7.8 mg per 100 g.
• A small portion food — 573 kcal per 100 g. ICMR–NIN’s sample menus use it 5 g at a time.

What is in 100 g of sesame seeds? Nutrition facts

8 sesame seeds health benefits, with the evidence (ખાવાના ફાયદા)

• હાડકાં માટે કેલ્શિયમ — Calcium for bones. 975 mg per 100 g in whole seeds. India’s dietary guidelines list sesame beside milk, curd and ragi as a calcium source. How much of it the body absorbs from a whole seed is less certain, so chew well or grind it.
• આયર્ન — Iron. 14.6 mg per 100 g; a 10 g spoonful gives about 1.5 mg. Plant iron is absorbed better with vitamin C, so lemon on the chutney helps.
• હેલ્ધી ફેટ્સ — Mostly unsaturated fat. Of 49.7 g fat per 100 g, 40.5 g is mono- or polyunsaturated and 7.0 g saturated.
• પ્રોટીન — Protein. 17.7 g per 100 g. At 10 g a day that is under 2 g, so sesame adds to a day’s protein; it does not supply it.
• ફાઈબર — Fibre. 11.8 g per 100 g; a 10 g spoonful gives a little over 1 g.
• મેગ્નેશિયમ અને ઝિંક — Magnesium and zinc. 351 mg and 7.8 mg per 100 g, so about 35 mg and 0.8 mg in a 10 g spoonful.
• બ્લડ પ્રેશર માટે — Blood pressure. A meta-analysis of eight controlled trials found lower blood pressure with sesame. Restricted to the four better-quality trials, systolic pressure fell by about 3 mmHg and the fall in diastolic pressure was not significant.
• બ્લડ શુગર અને કોલેસ્ટ્રોલ — Blood sugar and cholesterol. A 2025 review of 13 trials in 521 people, lasting 4–12 weeks, reported improved HbA1c and some lipid and inflammation markers. The trials were short and covered sesame products and extracted compounds as well as seeds, so this says little about a spoon of seeds on a salad.

How strong is the evidence for sesame?

Is til chikki healthy?

It is a sweet with a good seed in it. India’s dietary guidelines count jaggery as an added sugar, the same as table sugar, and advise keeping added sugar under 25 g a day. A chikki is sesame held together with jaggery, so a piece is a reasonable festival treat and a poor way to take calcium. If the seed is the point, use the seed: dry-roasted and sprinkled, or ground into a chutney.

How much sesame should you eat in a day?

There is no separate Indian limit for sesame. The guidelines’ sample menus add it in 5 g portions, about 2 teaspoons, and their plate allows about 35 g of nuts and seeds a day in total on a 2,000 kcal diet. Ten to fifteen grams of sesame within that — a few teaspoons — is a sensible amount. At 573 kcal per 100 g, a bowl of til ladoo is not.

How to cook and eat sesame well

Sesame FAQ — common questions

See the snack packs 500 g and 1 kg, fried after the order

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