Ghee, also known as clarified butter in layman English is pure butter fat that has been slowly rendered from a block of unsalted butter. A typical block of butter is made up of water, milk solids and butter fat. During the rendering process, the density differences in these 3 components will cause them to separate, water evaporates and milk solids sinking, allowing us to harvest the golden liquid known as pure butter fat.
Ghee or clarified butter has been used in the kitchen since the very early ages; not just in the Indian kitchen but everywhere else in various intensities. Ghee not only taste wonderful (since it is pure butter fat), it is also quite nutrients dense, containing an excellent amount of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K. All these vitamins together play an important role in promoting a healthy immune system, proper functioning of your heart, improves digestion, brain and bones. Below are some other amazing healing properties that a lot of us probably do not know about. [1]
6 Health Benefits of Ghee
1. Helps digestion and absorption of nutrients
Ghee stimulates your body’s production of stomach acids that are fundamental to your body’s ability to break down and digest the food that you eat. How often do you hear about a fat that helps eliminate and remove toxins that stand in the way of your body’s effort to digest food effectively and efficiently? This is like too good to be true. But it is. This is because ghee contains a healthy amount of a short-chain fatty acid called butyric acid. The shorter the chain of the fatty acid, the easier it is for your body to break down and digest. As a point of reference, the fatty acid in coconut oil is medium-chain and the fatty acid found in saturated fat in for example meat is long-chain. How would you rate your gut health?
2. Promotes the healing properties of herbs
Ghee is also known to be a great catalytic agent in boosting the healing properties of herbs. This is similar to the idea of water-soluble versus fat-soluble vitamins and minerals. Some nutrients are better absorbed by your body in the presence of fat instead of water. Hence the nutritional advice to dress your salads in healthy fats to maximize nutritional benefits from your lovely bowl of salad. Why not use ghee instead of olive oil in your next salad bowl?
3. Great for gut health
The short-chain butyrate acid in ghee also helps to nourish, prevent and heal any inflammation on your intestinal wall, making it a neat little natural remedy for conditions such as “leaky gut syndrome”, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Butyrate acid helps balance the gut flora much like healthy bacteria in probiotics and therefore helps prevent yeast infections (i.e. Candida overgrowth) and other unwanted pathogens that your body is constantly exposed to. [1,2]
4. Lubricates the body, both inside and out
We know that oil lubricates and when it comes to moisturizing your body, I am sure you want only the best and the purest form of oil. A good rule of thumb that I always go by is “if I can eat it, it must be good for my skin too!” Ghee, like coconut oil, can absolutely be applied to your body externally as a natural and pure form of moisturizer to help soothe dry skin. When consumed as a food ingredient, ghee also helps to lubricate your tissues at a cellular level (even though you won’t see it, you can sure feel it over time!), helps them rebuild and regenerate to help you improve your energy, strength, immunity, vitality, and stamina.
The natural lubricating properties of ghee also help ease stiff joints and promote motion flexibility through the elimination of inflammation in your body.
5. Good for brain and nervous system
Your brain tissue is made up of mainly fats. Pregnant women, especially in the early trimesters, are encouraged to consume enough healthy fats such as avocados to help ensure proper development of their babies’ brains. As an adult, it is still imperative for you to ensure a healthy dose of good fat to maintain and support an active and productive brain and nervous system.
6. Anti-inflammatory properties
Ghee also contains powerful anti-inflammatory agents that give it its medicinal properties against inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autoimmune conditions and even some cancers. It has been said many times that inflammation is the root of many chronic diseases. [3]
Buying or Making Your Own Ghee
Ghee is now quite widely available now in major local markets, not just in specialty stores or health food stores. They usually come in a soft solid form in a tub. However, be very careful and always read the label though because a lot of the commercially produced ghee have been found to contain high levels of hydrogenated vegetable fat.
Since homemade ghee is so simple and easy, I definitely recommend that you make your own at home. Make it in small batches so that you can also ensure its freshness. Choose butter that is made with dairy from organically raised and grass-fed cows. If you make your own at home, you will yield a golden liquid fat that tastes just as great. Once you refrigerate it though, it will harden a little but melts pretty quickly once you let you sit at room temperature. Again, this is because the fatty acid in ghee is short-chain.
How to Make Your own Ghee Recipe
Making your own ghee butter is not only rewarding but it only includes one ingredient making it easy and less expensive than buying store brands. Click here to get the recipe.
How to Add Ghee to Your Diet
Both liquid and soft solid forms are very versatile in the kitchen. You can use it as is to spread on toast or you can replace liquid fat called for in a recipe or solid fat that is meant to be melted in the preparation of a recipe, with ghee. Its high smoke point makes it a great choice for almost any cooking methods sautéing to frying, to baking and grilling.
For me, two key must-haves help determine the sustainability of any new addition to my diet. First, and foremost is the taste. If something does not taste good, it would be very hard for me to sustain it in my everyday diet no matter how healthy is it. The second must-have is nutritional benefits. It does not have to be the wonder food ingredients and provides me with every imaginable benefit under the sun but it has to be good for my body.
Ghee tastes wonderful, hands down. And it is good for our bodies in more than one way. So I find it hard to not even try and replace at least some of the fat that I am currently using in my kitchen with this amazingly healthy fat. [4]
As with all wonderfully delicious things though, moderation is key to achieve that fine essential balance between reaping the benefits and avoiding the potential risks of over-consumption. Keep in mind that the recommended daily amount for consumption of any fat, in general, is 10 to 15 gram per typical adult that consumes about 2,000 calories a day. Use extra caution when making dietary changes if you are currently managing other tough health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity etc.
Take a little leap today and try some ghee and see how you like it and how your body reacts to it. You will never know if you never try.
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References :
1. Cell Metab. 2011 May 4; 13(5): 517–526. The Microbiome and Butyrate Regulate Energy Metabolism and Autophagy in the Mammalian Colon.
2. Front Microbiol. 2016; 7: 979. Bifidobacteria and Butyrate-Producing Colon Bacteria: Importance and Strategies for Their Stimulation in the Human Gut.
3. Diabetes. 2009 Jul; 58(7): 1509–1517. Butyrate Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Increases Energy Expenditure in Mice.
4. Ghee.
