Health benefits of ghee: Review of Ayurveda and modern science perspectives

Abstract

The scientific view on dairy fats is undergoing a change. While at one time they were associated with negative health effects, recent scientific research has provided new insights into the functional benefits of dairy fats and their fatty acids. This changing scientific view on dairy fats is also resulting in a scientific interest in Ghee, the clarified butter obtained from milk. Ghee, besides being a traditional milk product of cultural importance in India and finding extensive use in its cuisines, is also one of the most important ingredients of the materia medica of Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine that originated in India. While modern scientific literature has limited studies on functional benefits of ghee, Ayurveda literature extensively catalogues the therapeutic potential of ghee and details different types of ghee based on source of milk, manufacturing method, maturation and physical phase. This work reviewed the Ayurveda literature on health benefits of ghee and examined the complementarity and gaps between Ayurveda literature and modern scientific literature to identify research questions and hypotheses for further exploring the therapeutic potential of ghee. The Ayurveda literature review involved curation of references to ghee in eleven important Ayurvedic texts spanning over 3000 years. 4000 references to milk and milk products were curated from these texts, of which 2913 mentions were in the context of therapeutic benefits of milk products. Of these, ghee had 774 mentions, the highest amongst milk-based products. These mentions were grouped into 15 benefit clusters. A review of ghee in modern literature published between 1990 and 2023 was also conducted. A comparison of this with the Ayurveda literature showed that there were major differences in the focus areas of health between the two. While recent research primarily focused on ghee's connection with cardiovascular health, wound healing and skin health, Ayurveda prioritized cognitive benefits, gastrointestinal health, and nourishing. These later areas are of growing importance to human health as global population ages, and chronic and brain related diseases start dominating public health concerns. As scientists search for solutions to these, ghee, its usage and formulations in Ayurveda and the detailed associations between ghee's animal source, processing, maturation, phases and health benefits, may have scientific insights to offer that can guide future research.

Keywords: Ayurveda; Clarified butter; Functional benefits; Ghee.

Fig. 1

Number of mentions of milk and milk products in the selected Ayurveda texts.

Fig. 2

Number of mentions of ghee based on type - its animal source, process, age and phase (Only the 774 mentions that had therapeutic annotations were considered for this analysis) *Ghee contraind. = contraindications to ghee.

Fig. 3

Frequency of mentions of ghee based on its ‘source’ for the 15 benefit clusters [Mentions of ghee based on source (321 mentions) is a subset of ‘all types of ghee’ (774 mentions) given in Fig. 3].