Ghee

Studies in people

• Open question

  Cholesterol levels in adults⁴

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

• Concern

  Heart disease risk⁵

  People who ate ghee as their main visible fat had more heart disease than those eating ghee with vegetable oils.

• Concern

  Heart health and blood fats⁶

  In people, eating ghee raised some blood fats linked to heart health more than olive oil did.

• No harm found

  Blood cholesterol levels⁷

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

Animal and lab studies only

• Benefit

  Body's inflammation signals⁸

  In animal studies, ghee in the diet lowered several inflammation-related substances in the blood and from 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.

• Epidemic dropsy outbreak³

  In 1987, families in Andhra Pradesh got epidemic dropsy after eating ghee contaminated with sanguinarine.

• Heart artery disease⁹

  Ghee used in Indian cooking contained cholesterol oxides, which may help explain high heart artery disease in Indian immigrants.

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.