The health conscious people are having this fad these days that Desi Ghee is not good for their health. But if you pick up the ancient texts like Ayurveda, you will read many excerpts saying that Desi Ghee has always been cherished for its unmatched health benefits. But people these days, due to fear of cholesterol are virtually driven to condemn Desi Ghee completely. Totally condemning desi ghee considering it to be a culprit for blocking our arteries can be a fatal mistake. And yeah, it’s no joke. And the ones who replace it with the hydrogenated vegetable oils are at a bigger mistake than those who don’t eat Ghee at all. We’ve got to admit this, that people have developed an incessant fear of cholesterol which drives to take such steps. But if you study the scientific facts, you’ll realize that you are sadly mistaken. In fact, Desi Ghee is a highly nourishing food.
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If you look closely at the process through which desi ghee is prepared, you’ll remember that it is produced by heating the butter. Heating evaporates the water present in the butter. And when the temperature rises, the milk proteins and the salt burns out to make that brownish residue. That is why ghee has a nutty flavour. Ghee is derived from milk, so it’s obviously an animal product. Undoubtedly, it contains some amount of saturated fat and cholesterol.
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But the information here stands incomplete. Some saturated fats do have a cholesterol-raising impact, but not all. If we talk about desi ghee, only a few fatty acids of the desi ghee have this impact on our body. Desi ghee is 65% saturated and the 32% fats in desi ghee are MUFA (mono-unsaturated fatty acids). MUFA is a highly recommended dietary fat, the one which is found in olive oil. If you consider the scores, Desi ghee is much above in the list which includes sunflower, safflower, corn, and cottonseed oils.
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People who think that desi ghee is higher in calories as compared to the oils, then they would be surprised to know that there is no significant difference in calories. But one shouldn’t be eating excessive amounts of desi ghee (please notice the term ‘Excessive’ used here!)
Apart from this, desi ghee is rich in vitamin A, Vitamin D and riboflavin along with the minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. For your information, vitamin A is an essential vitamin to maintain good vision, healthy skin and it’s an antioxidant as well. Vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus are required for maintaining our bone health also our nervous system. Potassium is needed to upkeep the electrolyte balance within the cells and to regulate our heartbeat.
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So drawing a conclusion from the above-mentioned information and the researches carried out in this field, it is not good to condemn desi ghee completely. In fact, using a single cooking medium is not ideal. So make a combination. You can blend your desi ghee with some cold pressed sesame oil, mustard oil, and olive oil.
