We are living with many health-related misconceptions. A few we have read in my last post Know why Weight Loss is the incorrect New Year resolution?

In this post, I am going to dispel our wrong belief about the Ghee.

“At one time considered the food of Gods, it’s now a “fattening” ingredient and somehow responsible for the lifestyle diseases of this generation. But is that the truth? Since the 70s and 80s when inspired by the marketing and propaganda of “heart healthy” vegetable oils, an entire country, let go of its 5000-year old food wisdom to eat Ghee, has our heart health really improved? Are there fewer cases now of diabetes, high cholesterol, etc? Or did we make a blunder when Ghee was labeled “saturated fat” and pushed in the same category as trans-fats and hydrogenated fats?” Dietician Rujuta Diwaekar.

In her book, Feasts and Fast, A history of Indian Food, author Colleen Taylor Sen writes, In Ayurveda, ghee is considered a virtual panacea. Referring to an eighteenth-century physician, she writes,” ghee rejuvenates, is tasty alleviates pitta and vata, removes poisons, prolongs life, promote growth”….. It features in many Ayurveda recipes. Sweets fried in ghee, roasted in earthenware pots or cooked over a charcoal fire are light and tonic, and improves complexion and eyesight.”

Caraka Samhita “Ghee promotes memory, intelligence, agni, semen, ojas, Kapha, and medas. It alleviates Vata, Pitta, poison, insanity, phthisis, inauspiciousness and fever. It is the best of all fats, is cold, madhura rasa, madhura vipaka, has 1000 potentialities, and so, if used properly according to prescribed methods, exerts 1000 types of action.”

Sushruta Samhita “Ghrita (Ghee) is sweet, mild in action, soft, cold in potency (Virya), not increasing moisture in the tissues, lubricating, relieves upward movement in the alimentary tract, insanity, epilepsy, colic, fever, and distension of the abdomen, mitigates vata and pitta, kindles agni, increases memory, wisdom, intelligence, complexion, voice, beauty, softness of the body, vitality, vigor, strength, and span of life; is aphrodisiac, good for vision, increases kapha, wards off sins and inauspiciousness, destroys poisons and demons.”

Cow ghee is considered healthier.

Savvas Ioannides naturopath from Sydney writes about Ghee, “It also helps with digestion where there is a deficiency of gastric acid (hypochlorhydria), a sign often seen in patients with acid reflux and other digestive complaints. For this reason, ghee is also considered to be an immune stimulant since the 85% of our immune system lies in our gut.

Even though it is an animal fat, studies have shown that it decreases LDL cholesterol and increases HDL cholesterol or has not changed the lipid profile at all. It increases blood levels of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin E, which prevents oxidation of LDL cholesterol, therefore improving cardiovascular disease states. It also stimulates biliary secretion and contraction of a gallbladder.”

Apart from the Caraka and Sushruta Samhita, those who believe only in western findings here is a revelation;

Research report The effect of ghee (clarified butter) on serum lipid levels and microsomal lipid peroxidation by Hari Sharma, Xiaoying Zhang, and Chandradhar Dwivedi published in an international quarterly journal of Research in Ayurveda, concluded,

“A study on a rural population in India showed a significantly lower prevalence of coronary heart disease in men who consumed higher amounts of ghee. High doses of medicated ghee decreased serum cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesterol esters in psoriasis patients. There were significant improvements in the patients’ psoriasis symptoms as well. MAK-4, a herbal mixture containing ghee, increased the resistance of LDL to oxidation in hyperlipidemic patients and had no effect on levels of serum total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, or triglycerides in these patients. Other mixtures containing ghee have shown hepatoprotective effects, anticonvulsant activity, effects on the enhancement of memory, and enhancement of wound healing.

These positive research findings support the beneficial effects of ghee outlined in the ancient Ayurveda texts and the therapeutic use of ghee for thousands of years in the Ayurveda system of medicine.”

All these facts and findings suggest we have made a big blunder by ignoring Ghee in our diet.

8 Impressive Benefits of Ghee (Clarified Butter) video is educative.

Don’t avoid Ghee in your diet, moderation is the key. Enjoy Ghee and enjoy good health.

Liked the post? Share it. Liked the post? Subscribe the Blog for regular updates in your inbox.