Pudding: mostly a test meal in the research

Almost nothing on this page is about the pudding in your fridge. Researchers use pudding as a vehicle, a soft and standard food they can load with whey protein, oat bran, a special wheat or a medicine and feed to a small group once. So when a study here reports a benefit, it belongs to the added ingredient in a test recipe. A pudding with 10 g of oat bran fibre gave the lowest glucose and insulin responses of four puddings in 20 adults. One with 12.9 g of whey protein cut the desire to eat by 24.2% on a rating scale and did not change how much people ate at lunch. The trials behind this page ran from 9 to 25 people and measured the hours after one serving. The most practical finding is the plainest. In healthy adults given a single dose, the contents of a lansoprazole capsule emptied into Ensure pudding, yogurt or cottage cheese were absorbed as well as the intact capsule. A gabapentin dose stirred into 4 oz of fat-free chocolate pudding showed no significant difference either. That matters if you or someone you care for struggles to swallow pills, yet nobody tested people who actually have that trouble, and it holds for those two drugs only. Even for these two, ask your pharmacist first.

The numbers, per 100 g

What a real portion looks like

• In a randomised crossover study in 17 preschool children, serving 300 g instead of 150 g of snack raised intake from 84 to 99 kcal, whether the snack was chocolate pudding or applesauce. — 17 children aged about 4, US preschool (n = 17) Evidence B source
  84.2 kcal small portion vs 99.0 kcal large portion (P < 0.05), no effect of energy density

What your body absorbs

• In a randomised crossover trial in 12 healthy adults, custard produced a blood triglyceride response up to 122.7% higher than pudding or biscuit of similar composition, so food structure changed fat absorption. — 12 healthy adults, four model foods (n = 12) Evidence B source
  Triglyceride response custard up to +122.7% vs pudding and biscuit, lutein no difference
• In a crossover study in 24 volunteers given 12 mg of coumarin, 54.7% was absorbed from cassia cinnamon in rice pudding against 62.8% from isolated coumarin in a capsule, so most of the coumarin in cinnamon rice pudding is absorbed. — 24 healthy volunteers, 23 analysed (n = 24) Evidence C source
  Relative absorption 54.7% from cinnamon rice pudding vs 62.8% isolated coumarin

What cooking and storage change

• In 136 milk-allergic children challenged step by step at baseline, 41 reacted to milk baked in muffin and 31 to pizza, and of the 64 who reached the rice pudding step 11 reacted, about 1 in 6. — 136 milk-allergic children, median age 7, 70% boys, followed 36 months (n = 136) Evidence C source
  Baseline reactions muffin 30%, pizza 23%, rice pudding 8%, non-baked milk 32%, shares of all 136 enrolled; children who reacted at an earlier step were not tested further; 11 of 64 who reached rice pudding reacted

What it does to your health

• In a randomised pilot study in 10 healthy adults eating about 50 g of starch as semolina pudding, pudding made from high-resistant-starch mutant wheat showed no evidence of a difference in glycaemic index, although its starch digested less in vitro (33% against 47%). — 10 healthy adults, single test meals (n = 10) Evidence B source
  No GI difference, in vitro starch digestibility C90 33.29% vs 47.38%
• In a randomised crossover study in 25 healthy adults, a pudding with 12.9 g whey protein and 6 g polydextrose did not change energy intake at lunch, and it lowered desire to eat by 24.2% over the following hours. — 25 healthy adults, two test days (n = 25) Evidence B source
  Lunch energy intake unchanged, desire-to-eat iAUC down 24.2% (p = .049)
• In a randomised crossover study in 20 healthy adults, a 300 g pudding with 10 g of oat bran fibre gave the lowest glucose and insulin responses of four puddings, and appetite ratings did not differ. — 20 healthy normal-weight adults, 15 women, mean age 23 (n = 20) Evidence B source
  Lowest glucose (P = 0.001) and insulin (P < 0.001) after the oat beta-glucan pudding

Safety, limits and interactions

• In a randomised crossover study in 9 healthy adults, mixing a 600 mg gabapentin dose into 4 oz of fat-free chocolate pudding did not significantly change absorption against the intact capsule, though Cmax trended 18.6% and AUC 13.2% higher. — 9 healthy adults, single 600 mg dose, 7-day washouts (n = 9) Evidence B source
  No significant differences, trend Cmax +18.6% and AUC +13.2% with pudding
• In a crossover study in 24 healthy adults, emptying a 30 mg lansoprazole capsule into Ensure pudding, yogurt or cottage cheese gave bioavailability equivalent to the intact capsule (90% CI within 0.80-1.25). — 24 healthy adults aged 19-52, 23 completed (n = 24) Evidence B source
  AUC ratio 90% CIs within 0.80-1.25 for all soft-food regimens

What is still unknown

• In a randomised crossover trial in 12 healthy volunteers, Riceberry rice puddings with 40 g carbohydrate had glycaemic indices of 41 and 36, and adding fibre thickened the texture without significantly lowering the GI. — 12 healthy volunteers, 12-day washouts, puddings designed as dysphagia diets (n = 12) Evidence B source
  GI 41 (original) and 36 (high-fibre), difference not significant

The bottom line

If you like pudding, eat it as the dessert it is. None of our studies asked what eating it regularly does to weight, teeth or blood sugar over months, and we hold no card on the sugar in a supermarket pot, so this page cannot answer that. Several findings show how little the word pudding predicts. A semolina pudding made from a wheat bred for more resistant starch, the kind that escapes digestion, broke down more slowly in the lab, 33% against 47%. Yet a pilot in 10 people found no difference in the glycaemic index, the score for how fast a food raises blood sugar. Two rice puddings made from Riceberry rice scored 41 and 36, and adding fibre thickened them without a significant drop. Those puddings were designed for people with swallowing problems, yet they were tested in healthy volunteers, so how they behave in the people they were made for is unknown. Structure matters too. In 12 adults the rise in blood fat after custard was up to 122.7% larger than after a pudding or biscuit of similar makeup. Portion is the everyday lever. Preschoolers served 300 g instead of 150 g ate 99 kcal instead of 84, and it made no difference whether the bowl held chocolate pudding or applesauce. Who should be careful. Cinnamon in rice pudding still counts toward coumarin, a natural compound in cassia cinnamon that has a tolerable daily limit. From the pudding 54.7% of it was absorbed, against 62.8% from a pure capsule, so most of it gets absorbed. If your child has a milk allergy, a rice pudding is still milk. In a clinic ladder, 136 milk-allergic children were given milk in stages, and a child who reacted at one step was not tested further. Of the 64 children who got as far as the rice pudding step, 11 reacted, about 1 in 6. Climb that ladder only with your allergist. Medicine mixed into pudding was tested in healthy adults only. For gabapentin, in 9 healthy adults the difference was not significant, though levels ran 13-19% higher with pudding. Lansoprazole matched the intact capsule in 24. For these two and for any other drug, ask your pharmacist first, because these results say nothing about the rest.

Sources

1. pdb3-06 · RCT (crossover)
   Foods were applesauce (lower energy dense=0.43 kcal/g) and chocolate pudding (higher energy dense=1.19 kcal/g), and portion sizes were 150 g (small) and 300 g (large)...the main effect of portion size on snack intake (small portion size 84.2±30.8 kcal, large portion size 99.0±52.5 kcal; P<0.05) was significant
   J Am Diet Assoc, 2011 · checked 2026-09-23
2. pdb3-05 · RCT (crossover)
   Twelve healthy subjects are enrolled in a randomized, open label, crossover postprandial trial. Four different model foods are tested: custard, pudding, sponge cake, and biscuit...Custard triglyceride response is higher than pudding and biscuit responses (up to +122.7%, p < 0.0001)
   Mol Nutr Food Res, 2020 · checked 2026-09-23
3. pdb3-09 · crossover pharmacokinetic study
   A four-way crossover study was performed, in which the same dose of 12 mg coumarin was administered in different formulations to 24 healthy volunteers. The relative extent of absorption measured as urinary excretion of the main metabolite 7-hydroxycoumarin (7OHC) was found to be 62.8% for isolated coumarin in a capsule (reference), 56.0% for cinnamon in capsules, 66.1% for cinnamon tea, and 54.7% for cinnamon in rice pudding (means, n=23, observation period 8 hours)
   Mol Nutr Food Res, 2011 · checked 2026-09-23
4. pdb3-10 · prospective cohort
   A total of 136 children (70% males) were enrolled in the active group (median age, 7 years). At baseline, 41 (30%) reacted to muffin, 31 (23%) to pizza, 11 (8%) to rice pudding, 43 (32%) to non-baked milk; and 10 (7%) tolerated non-baked milk.
   J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract, 2018 · checked 2026-09-23
5. pdb3-01 · RCT (pilot)
   Retrograded sbeIIa/b-AB semolina showed a higher RS concentration than the WT control (RS = 4.87 ± 0.6 g per 100 g, 0.77 ± 0.34 g per 100 g starch DWB, respectively), so pudding was selected as the test food...We found no evidence of difference in GI between sbeIIa/b-AB pudding and the WT control, but the starch digestibility was significantly lower in sbeIIa/b-AB pudding compared to the WT control in vitro (C90 = 33.29% and 47.38%, respectively)
   Food Funct, 2020 · checked 2026-09-23
6. pdb3-03 · RCT (crossover)
   A single-blind randomized, crossover study was carried out in 25 healthy adults. Participants consumed two different puddings, including control or test pudding (12.9 g WP and 6 g PX)...For all participants, energy intake at lunch was similar after consumption of control or test pudding...it decreased iAUC for desire to eat by 24.2% (p = .049)
   Int J Food Sci Nutr, 2017 · checked 2026-09-23
7. pdb3-04 · RCT (crossover)
   Isoenergetic and isovolumic (1250 kJ, 300 g) puddings with different insoluble and soluble DF content were tested in a randomised order...Plasma glucose (P = 0.001) and serum insulin (P < 0.001) responses were the lowest after the pudding with the greatest amount of β-glucan. In contrast, postprandial ghrelin or PYY responses or appetite sensations did not differ among the meals.
   Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis, 2011 · checked 2026-09-23
8. pdb3-07 · RCT (crossover)
   An unblinded, randomized, single-dose, four-way crossover pharmacokinetic study in nine healthy adult men and women volunteers...No statistically significant differences in any kinetic variable were found between any study arm. A trend was noted for a modest increase in both Cmax and AUC in phase IV (chocolate pudding) compared with control (+18.6% and +13.2%, respectively)
   Ann Pharmacother, 1998 · checked 2026-09-23
9. pdb3-08 · RCT (crossover)
   Twenty-four healthy adult volunteers participated in this single-dose, 4-period crossover study by ingesting the contents of a 30-mg lansoprazole capsule that had been emptied into either a tablespoon of yogurt (regimen A), Ensure pudding (regimen B), or cottage cheese (regimen C), or given as an intact capsule (regimen D) during the first study period...The 90% CIs were all within an acceptable equivalence range of 0.80 to 1.25.
   Clin Ther, 2000 · checked 2026-09-23
10. pdb3-02 · RCT (crossover)
    A randomized cross-over controlled trial was conducted in twelve healthy volunteers. Original pudding, high-fiber pudding and white bread containing 40 g carbohydrate each were assigned in random sequence with twelve-day wash-out intervals...The adjusted GIs for original and high-fiber puddings were not significantly different (at 41±7.60 and 36±6.40, respectively)
    Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, 2019 · checked 2026-09-23