Jackfruit for weight loss: ripe fruit or raw vegetable

72 kcal in about 6 bulbs, 100 g.
2.7 g protein per serving, from IFCT 2017.
Whole fruit on a plate built to lose fat and keep muscle.

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Jackfruit fits a weight-loss plan two ways. Ripe bulbs are a sweet fruit: about six (100 g) give 72 kcal and 14 g of carbohydrate. Raw jackfruit, cooked as a sabzi, is a very different food with far fewer calories and more fibre, as the table shows.

Medical review by a registered doctor on our panel is pending. Every number is from IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables published by ICMR's National Institute of Nutrition.

Published 18 October 2026 · Last updated 18 October 2026

Jackfruit nutrition, per serving and per 100 g

Jackfruit: IFCT 2017 figures
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100 g
Energy	72 kcal	72 kcal
Protein	2.7 g	2.7 g
Carbohydrate (available)	14 g	14 g
Dietary fibre	3.6 g	3.6 g
Fat	0.1 g	0.1 g

Serving: about 6 bulbs, 100 g. IFCT 2017 food code E030, "Jack fruit, ripe (Artocarpus heterophyllus)", the mean of 5 regions sampled. IFCT does not report glycaemic index, so this page prints none.

The verdict on jackfruit

Whole fruit

One counted fruit in place of a sweet or a packet snack.

3.8 g of protein for every 100 kcal.
One serving gives 2.7 g of the roughly 58 g of protein a day ICMR-NIN's RDA sets for a 70 kg adult.
3.6 g of fibre in a serving.

How jackfruit fits a plan that loses fat and keeps muscle

IFCT 2017 gives ripe jackfruit 72 kcal and 3.6 g of fibre per 100 g. It is sweeter and denser than most fruit, so count the bulbs into a bowl and enjoy them as your fruit for the day.

Raw green jackfruit, kathal, is the useful surprise: IFCT lists it at a fraction of the ripe fruit's calories with much more fibre. As a kathal sabzi or a biryani-style dish it adds bulk and a meaty texture for very little, which is why it suits a calorie deficit so well.

Jackfruit in an Indian kitchen

Ripe jackfruit bulbs are sweet and dense, so count them out into a bowl. Raw jackfruit, kathal or chakka, is cooked as a vegetable all over India: a kathal sabzi or a dry raw-jackfruit curry with spices has the texture of meat and far fewer calories than the ripe fruit. Oil the knife and your hands before cutting a whole jackfruit, because the sap is sticky. Jackfruit seeds, boiled or roasted, are eaten in Kerala and Bengal.

Pair it, or swap it

Kathal sabzi with roti and dal, or ripe jackfruit bulbs with curd, keep the plate balanced. Boiled jackfruit seeds are a traditional snack with useful protein.

Worth knowing

Jackfruit chips are fried, and kathal curries in restaurants can carry a lot of oil. Ripe jackfruit is easy to overeat; serve it.

Jackfruit against similar foods

Per 100 g, IFCT 2017
Food	Energy	Protein	Fibre
Jackfruit	72 kcal	2.7 g	3.6 g
Jackfruit, raw (kathal)	26 kcal	2 g	7.7 g
Jackfruit seed	77 kcal	5.8 g	8.6 g
Banana	105 kcal	1.2 g	1.9 g

Jackfruit: questions people ask

Is jackfruit good for weight loss?

Raw jackfruit, cooked as a sabzi, is excellent: low in calories and high in fibre per IFCT 2017. Ripe jackfruit fits as a counted fruit.

How many calories are in ripe jackfruit?

IFCT 2017 gives ripe jackfruit 72 kcal per 100 g; about six bulbs give roughly 72 kcal.

Are jackfruit seeds healthy?

Boiled or roasted, they are a filling snack with protein and fibre. IFCT 2017 lists them in the table above.

Sources

[1] Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017
National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, 2017. Table 1, Proximate Principles and Dietary Fibre: energy, protein, fat, available carbohydrate and dietary fibre per 100 g edible portion, the mean of the regions sampled. Every figure on this page comes from it.
Read the source
[2] ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Dietary Guidelines for Indians
ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad, 2024. Recommends combining cereals with pulses in a 3:1 ratio for protein quality, meeting vegetarian protein needs from pulses, beans and milk, keeping added sugar under 5% of energy and salt to 5 g a day, and slow, steady weight reduction.
Read the source
[3] ICMR-NIN Expert Group on Nutrient Requirements for Indians. Recommended Dietary Allowances and Estimated Average Requirements
ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad (brief note), 2020. Sets the protein RDA for healthy Indian adults at 0.83 g per kg of body weight a day, and 1 g per kg for people on a cereal-based diet with lower-quality protein.
Read the source
[4] Wycherley TP, et al. Effects of energy-restricted high-protein, low-fat compared with standard-protein, low-fat diets: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012. In energy-restricted trials, higher-protein diets produced slightly greater fat loss and better preservation of fat-free mass than standard-protein diets.
Read the source
[5] Shukla AP, et al. Food Order Has a Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels
Diabetes Care, 2015. Eating vegetables and protein before carbohydrate in the same meal produced lower post-meal glucose and insulin than the reverse order, in a small crossover study.
Read the source

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