Clarified butter

Studies in people

• Concern

  Heart risk from fats⁴

  In people, eating ghee raised a blood fat linked to heart risk more than olive oil did.

• No harm found

  Blood cholesterol levels⁵

  Eating ghee in a vegetarian diet generally did not change blood cholesterol in healthy young people, though a few responded differently.

• Benefit

  Heart disease risk⁶

  Men who ate more ghee each month had less heart disease, though scientists cannot say ghee caused this.

• Open question

  Cholesterol levels in adults⁷

  In healthy young adults, eating ghee raised total and HDL cholesterol but not their ratio.

Animal and lab studies only

• Benefit

  Body's inflammation signals⁸

  In animal studies, eating ghee lowered several inflammation signals in the rats' blood and immune cells.

Found in some samples or products

These come from where it was grown, how it was processed or cooked, or what it was made into. They are not about the ingredient itself, so the signal does not count them.

• Swelling outbreak from food³

  In 1987, families in India who ate ghee contaminated with sanguinarine fell ill with epidemic dropsy.

• Heart artery disease⁹

  Ghee, a clarified butter used in Indian cooking, was found to contain cholesterol oxides, which may help explain high heart disease rates.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.