Caraka clearly wrote “if the gastric fire is kindled by fuel in the form of ghee, then it cannot be suppressed, even by too heavy food”. Given Ayurveda’s emphasis on wholesome food, the importance of ghee in increasing digestion is helpful. No benefit can be gained from food without proper digestion and non-digested substance accumulates. One or two teaspoons of ghee every day nourishes the whole digestion process. Ghee helps to eliminate waste products because it has a laxative as well as diuretic effect on the body. The properties of Ghee help to lubricate the digestive tract, alleviate bowel hardness and reduce flatulence and bloating. Ghee nurtures every tissue and promotes strength, standardisation of blood and lymph. In Ayurveda the sweet taste stimulates anabolic activity, because the earth element predominates.
Current era has classified ghee as a product which leads to cardiovascular related diseases but ghee has used in Indian diets for thousands of years without any reported adverse health effects. Although most previous studies focused on cholesterol levels as an indicator of CVD, more specific studies show that low density oxidised lipoprotein cholesterol leads to atherosclerosis. Ghee was an easy target as it was made out of 65% saturated fat. The high rate of the atherosclerosis of Indian immigrant populations was investigated in one Lancet study. In butter, but not in ghee, there have been significant amounts of harmful Cholesterol oxides. This means that butter cholesterol is oxidised while making ghee when simming it.
Fatty acids are also important for our health. Ghee which contains saturated fat of 89% contains of short chain fatty acids , comparing with long chains in other animal fats, such as fat for beef. It is the longer chain fatty acids linked to the thrombosis and coagulation of the blood. Not only are short chains easier to digest, they help produce hormones and reinforce cell membranes. It also has anti-microbial properties that protect against damaging digestive tract micro-organisms. In addition to the absence of clear evidence that ghee and CVD risk are connected, it seems to prevent it. Studies have shown that ghee can decrease serum cholesterol levels in both rat and human beings.
