Can Diabetics Eat Pesto Sauce?

Short answer
In moderate quantities, most pesto sauces contain nothing that should cause major concern for diabetics. We do, however, advise anyone living with diabetes to always read the label and monitor the levels of salt, carbohydrates, and sugar, as they can vary widely between similar-looking products.

Long answer
The Mediterranean diet is famous for being the healthiest in the world, and you won't find many foods more Mediterranean than pesto. This makes it a great contender for being safe and encouraging people with diabetes to include it in their diet.

Type 1, type 2, gestational, or any of the rarer forms of diabetes carry specific dietary recommendations, so there is no "one size fits all." However, the days of strict rules about what is allowed and what isn't are long gone. Food producers are no longer allowed to display "suitable for diabetics" labels on ready meals, and improvements in insulin regimes mean the condition is far more manageable than it once was.

The dietary and health recommendations for those with diabetes are the same as for everyone else. Specifically, to maintain a healthy body weight, eat a balanced diet with a combination of all the major food groups, quit smoking, cut down on alcohol, and get regular exercise.

You will find several of the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) red and amber warnings on jars of pesto. However, you will eat relatively small quantities of the sauce, so most dieticians consider pesto to be healthy. Here, we've broken down the main food groups individually.

Sugar
Despite a popular misconception, sugar doesn't directly cause diabetes, nor does a person with diabetes have to exclude it from their diet completely. Cutting down on sugar (specifically refined sugar) has more to do with managing weight than specifically managing the condition. Added sugar has no place in high-quality pesto, but watch out for some budget brands that bulk their sauces with sugar, water, potato flakes, and other garbage.

Fruit
With the exception of sun-dried tomatoes that give red pesto its vibrant colour, you are unlikely to find fruit in pesto. However, even if you did, it is not off-limits; it just needs to be eaten in moderation.

Herbs and vegetables
We're always being told to eat a more plant-based diet, and pesto's large quantity of herbs (and sometimes vegetables) is packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibre, perfect for diabetics.

Starchy foods
The carbohydrate content of pestos can vary from 2% to 15% and may be high or low glycemic. People living with type 1 diabetes are no longer advised to follow a strict low-carb diet. Instead, it's more about effectively controlling insulin levels and ensuring they opt for healthier carbohydrates. For this reason, we don't see why the carbohydrate content of pesto needs to be a primary concern for people with diabetes.

Fats and oils
Unsurprisingly, a sauce made with large quantities of olive oil, nuts, and cheese will be a high-fat, high-calorie foodstuff. You will get some saturated fat from the cheese, but most fats from olive oil and nuts are considered suitable for your heart and, therefore, acceptable for diabetics. Plus, if you follow our recommended portion size of 50g pesto per person, the amount of fat and calories you consume is not at a level that needs worrying about.

Proteins
Fatty red and processed meats are best avoided by those with diabetes, while oily fish, raw nuts, beans, pulses, and eggs are actively encouraged in moderation. Apart from one unusual pesto on the market that contains nduja (a spicy, spreadable pork sausage), diabetics will not get any bad proteins from pesto.

Dairy
Dairy contains plenty of calcium, which is good for bones, teeth, and muscles. Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino are the two cheeses used in the official recipe for classic basil pesto. Despite having relatively high levels of saturated fat, they also contain lots of vitamins B6 and B12, phosphorus, and zinc, so they can be eaten by diabetics fairly guilt-free.

Salt
We eat too much salt as a nation, putting ourselves at risk of high blood pressure, strokes, and heart disease. We've researched over 50 different pesto sauces available in the UK and concluded that, on average, they contain around 1% salt. That's enough for the FSA to give them an amber warning on their food traffic light system.

Having said that, we've found a pesto containing a shocking 5.1% salt, so always check the label. Thankfully, the Department of Health's HFSS (high in saturated fat, salt, and sugar) policy has led to food producers reformulating many of their recipes. This has seen one producer launch a pesto that contains just 0.08% salt, so pesto no longer needs to be off-limits for diabetics.