Ghee is 100% butterfatgolden, flavorful, nutrient-rich butterfat. Butter contains primarily butterfat, but also milk proteins and water.

To create ghee, butter is simmered to separate the oil from the other components, which are strained off. Ghee traces its roots to the ancient tradition of Ayurveda, where it was considered a sacred, medicinal, cleansing, and nourishing food.

1. Ghee is Lactose Free The ability to digest lactose – a sugar found in milk – varies depending on the quality of the dairy product, your digestive health, and even your ethnicity. Did you know that 25% of Caucasians and up to 97% of Native Americans are lactose intolerant, meaning they lack the enzymes required to breakdown lactose? (Source: The Paleo Approach.)
2. Traditional cultures knew how to improve the digestibility of dairy. Raw milk, for example, contains enzymes that break down the lactose. Fermenting dairy into yogurt and kefir breaks down much of the lactose. And the process of creating ghee removes the lactose and leaves behind a pure butter oil.
3. Casein Free Casein, the protein component of milk, is blamed for milk allergies (technically, an allergic reaction occurs to the protein in a food). When gut flora is compromised, casein consumption can actually create an opiate effect on the brain because it is not being properly digested. In the creation of ghee, the milk solids containing the lactose and casein float to the top, where they are removed. Note that if you are actually allergic to milk, trace proteins in ghee may trigger a reaction. Pure Indian Foods offers a lab-tested ghee, certified free of trace remnants of lactose and casein (here it is). Culturing – a fermentation process – eats up any traces of these components.
4. Organic Ghee is a stable fat for cooking Quick high school biology review: in fatty acid molecules, the more double bonds between the carbon chains, the more unstable the molecule. This means that the bonds are more likely to break when exposed to heat or pressure, and the fatty acid oxidizes and becomes toxic to our cells. Polyunsaturated oils (think plant oils, like sunflower oil and safflower oil) contain many double bonds and are least stable for cooking. Ghee, however, is a primarily saturated fat and is highly heat-stable for sautéing and baking. Note that the smoking point of oils does not indicate the stability of the oil. Vegetable oils may have a high smoke point, but they are so delicate they actually rancidity with the heat and processing used during the oil extraction.
5. Ghee is a saturated fat that low fat fad is so 1995. And the saturated fat phobia is so 2005. We now have research showing that saturated fat consumption does not cause heart disease. For example, there are two monstrous meta-analysis from 2010 and 2014 showing consumption of saturated fat does not correlate with heart disease.
6. Ghee boasts bio-available vitamin A the dairy products of ruminants (cows, sheep, goats) grazing on grass provides an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A. These vitamins are stored primarily in the fat portion, so the concentration of vitamins in ghee is higher than in milk. Vitamin A plays an essential role in hormone balance, liver health, fertility, and stamina. Contrary to popular belief, vitamin A cannot be obtained from plant sources such as carrots. The conversion of carotene in vegetables to the usable form of vitamin A is insignificant, and made further negligible by health conditions such as thyroid imbalances.
7. The vitamin A in ghee is both immediately usable by the body, and also contains the fatty acid co-factors required for absorption. Ghee and butter are the best dietary sources of this fatty acid. As with all nutrients in ghee, concentrations of CLA are drastically higher in ghee from grass-fed cows. Numerous studies show that CLA inhibits the growth of breast cancer. Supplementation with CLA has also been shown to cause fat loss and improved body composition in humans (source).
8. I believe a nutrient from a whole-food source – in this case, CLA in ghee – is more effective than a supplement due to being paired with naturally-occurring co-factors. Further, the fat content of ghee plays an essential role in weight loss due to satiation quality. One study done with rats shows why ghee offers health-protective benefits for children. CLA fed to rats before the per pubertal period prevented the growth of tumors, but when the rats weren’t fed CLA until maturity, they had to consume the fatty acid for the rest of their life to prevent tumor growth.
9. Ghee is a good (!) source of cholesterol further, the cholesterol in ghee is something to revere, not fear. Science tells us that cholesterol does not cause atherosclerosis. As a healing agent in the body, levels of cholesterol rise during periods of stress or when inflammation is present. Providing cholesterol through good quality fats, such as grass-fed ghee, allows the body to help address the inflammation. Interestingly, low blood cholesterol levels are associated with the following: A higher risk of mortality (1, 2. 3) A higher risk of depression (4, 5) A higher risk of committing violent crime and suicide (6, 7) A higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (8, 9) One area of confusion is the labeling of LDL as “bad cholesterol” and HDL as “good cholesterol.” We know that high levels of HDL cholesterol is beneficial and we know there are sub-types of LDL cholesterol. For more discussion on this topic, please read my post 10 Reasons Why Low Fat is Not High Nutrition.
10. Ghee provides Vitamin K Grass-fed ghee contains the highly elusive nutrient vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is the shuttle than transports calcium into your bones. You can eat as much calcium as you want but it won’t strengthen your bones unless it is accompanied by vitamin K2. (Source: Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox.) As a fat-soluble vitamin, it requires the fatty acids in ghee for absorption.
11. Ghee is a source of butyric acid Ghee contains a significant level of butyric acid, an anti-carcinogenic short-chain fatty acid. Butyric acid has been shown to inhibit the growth of mammary tumors. Butyric acid is also a biological response modifier, a substance that arouses the body’s response to infection. Studies show that it boasts numerous healing and soothing properties on the intestinal tract (source, source). Some strains of beneficial gut flora produce butyric acid, and research shows the butyric acid produced may be a potential treatment for Irritable Bowel Disease.
12. Ghee has incredible flavour “Fat gives things flavour.” – Julia Child Ghee is like butter on flavour steroids. Enough said. How to get the benefits of ghee Make it your primary cooking fat for sautéing Swap it for butter for spreading on baked goods Toss steamed vegetables with ghee and sea salt Use it in any recipe that calls for cooking oil Use it in place of coconut oil or palm oil for baking If roasting vegetables, you can melt ghee and then drizzle it on like olive oil before baking.