Ghee and cholesterol

[Guest guest]

Dear fellows,

I have been trying hard to find answers for few questions related to

ghee, but have had little success. Ayurveda really praises ghee for its

many positive effects, but very often when having public talks or

discussions on emails I get following questions, that I am not able to

answer:

1. Does ghee contain less cholesterol than butter?

2. Is ghee good also for people on meat-based diets, who already get

excess of hard animal fat and cholesterols in their diet? Wouldn't olive

oil or equal be better in these cases?

3. Lactose, proteins and other milk solids are removed from ghee. But

these are present in milk itself, as well as are they present in butter.

Ayurveda recommends milk as perfect food and rejuvenator. How these milk

proteins and sugars all of the sudden become not so good and need to be

removed from butter?

I would be very glad if some of you could give me a hand.

- Ossi

[Guest guest]

On Monday, March 15, 2004, at 04:56 AM, ayurveda

wrote:

 

> Message: 2

> 15 Mar 2004 11:35:49 +0200

> Ossi Viljakainen <ossi.viljakainen

> Ghee and cholesterol

>

> Dear fellows,

> I have been trying hard to find answers for few questions related to

> ghee, but have had little success. Ayurveda really praises ghee for its

> many positive effects, but very often when having public talks or

> discussions on emails I get following questions, that I am not able to

> answer:

> 1. Does ghee contain less cholesterol than butter?

 

g per g it would contain more b/c its more concentrated in fat, g/g

 

> 2. Is ghee good also for people on meat-based diets, who already get

> excess of hard animal fat and cholesterols in their diet? Wouldn't

> olive

> oil or equal be better in these cases?

 

dietary cholesterol is a non-issue

most of the serum cholesterol is manufactured by the liver, not

directly from the diet

large scale cohort studies such as the Honolulu Heart study showed that

low cholesterol diets are more closely associated with CVD than a high

cholesterol diet; similar findings have also been found in the Tecumseh

and Framingham studies, with participants that ate the most dietary

cholesterol having serum cholesterol levels as those that ate the least!

 

the misguided focus on cholesterol has led to the development of

statins which at the same time as inhibiting cholesterol synthesis also

depletes CoQ10, a key molecule in metabolism

 

you may find this site of interest:

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/cholesterol_myth_1.html

 

the biggest issue with ghee IMO relates to the bioaccumulation of

fat-soluble toxins in milk, which is obviously more concentrated in a

concentrated product such as ghee

 

thus i recommend only organic source ghee, from grass-fed cows

 

 

> 3. Lactose, proteins and other milk solids are removed from ghee. But

> these are present in milk itself, as well as are they present in

> butter.

> Ayurveda recommends milk as perfect food and rejuvenator. How these

> milk

> proteins and sugars all of the sudden become not so good and need to be

> removed from butter?

 

at one time people all across the world had access to pure,

unpasteurized dairy, which is what the vaidyas are taking about

unfortunately that is not the case anymore. this kind of milk needs to

be consumed soon after milking the cow, or must be processed into curd,

butter, etc.

 

despite the fact that cow is held sacred in India, milk is not a

perfect food because it has contraindications (e.g. ama, kapha etc.)

a perfect food by definition would have no contraindications

 

the true benefit of milk probably relates to its fat content anyway,

and ghee is simply the ultimate refinement of that goodness

in his book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" author Weston Price

makes the case for an unidentified factor in butter he called "factor

x" that has many helpful nutritional effects. In his survey of peoples

all over the world, he found that high quality butter (and ghee, by

extension), were commonalities in healthy, long-living people.

 

for more info on the issue of milk, check out

www.realmilk.com

 

as for perfect foods, I'm not sure there are any

if one goes through the various texts the foods most often mentioned as

being i can find are the flesh of animals of arid regions (e.g. goat),

and various leafy vegetables; i would include fish in this list as

well, and perhaps this is why these foods are so highly esteemed, e.g.

the consumption of goat meat is mentioned as beneficial in the hadith,

the Christians eat fish on Fridays, and the Jews are supposed to eat

green vegetables as passover (which in some traditions, somewhat

perversely i might add, has been replaced by a salted potato!)

 

of course there are several herbs that come close to being perfect,

such as the constituents of Triphala...

 

>

Caldecott

phyto

http://www.wrc.net/phyto

[Guest guest]

Dear Ossi,

All the 3 questions you have asked are asked very often to every

ayurveda practioner. I think it would be much better if we could

write an article on the same. Anyway first thing you have to realise

is if you are looking at the properties of ghee as mentioned in

ayurvedic texts then don't mix them up with modern methods of

inspecting the same. Also the ghee obtained from the method as used

in India is not the "clarified butter" used in most studies done to

test its effect on cholesterol or other factors. Having said that -

 

1)Ghee prepared as per Indian method does not cause an increase in

cholesterol if all other factors which increase cholesterol are also

eliminated. Whether ghee contains more cholesterol than butter can

only be established by analysis of both substances. I am unaware of

any such controlled study.

 

2)Ghee also can be used by people having meat based diets. Depending

on the geographical location not only olive oil but also other

locally available oils can be used. Ayurveda does not advocate the

use of ghee and ghee only when other alternatives are available.

However in place where ghee (and not clarified butter) is prepared,

ghee does tend to be the best alternative available.

 

3)Milk is considered as whole food based on its properties as per

ayurvedic factors like rasa, veepak,veerya etc and not because it

contains lactose etc. Nowhere is it mentioned that ghee is to be used

to avoid the undesirable (I think that's what you mean by "not so

good") ingredients of milk and most certainly not protiens or sugar

etc. Ghee while containing similar properties of rasa, veepak, veerya

etc is more easier to digest and also improves the digestion better

than milk does. So not only is it a complete food as milk is but it

also is a good digestive ingredient.

 

I hope this satisfies your query to a large extent.

 

Cybervaidya.

[Guest guest]

Dear Ossi,

 

My spiritual teacher, who has practiced ayurveda his whole life.

He often talks about the healing qualities of ghee. Here is what he

would say to these questions.

 

> 1. Does ghee contain less cholesterol than butter?

He says ghee does not contain cholesterol(or very little). The

cholesterol is in the white curds, which are removed. Ghee does

have some saturated and unsaturated fats. The worst are removed.

 

> 2. Is ghee good also for people on meat-based diets, who already

>get excess of hard animal fat and cholesterols in their diet? Wouldn't

>olive oil or equal be better in these cases

 

Ghee can be used in meat based diets instead of other fats or oils.

Ghee is best for pitta.

 

> 3. Lactose, proteins and other milk solids are removed from ghee.

>But these are present in milk itself, as well as are they present in

>butter. Ayurveda recommends milk as perfect food and rejuvenator. How

>these milk proteins and sugars all of the sudden become not so good and need

> to be removed from butter?

 

Milk is mostly protein and some sugars. Butter is mostly oils and

fats with a little milk solids. If you make ghee, you will only

remove about 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk solids from one pound of

butter. Think of it this way. Would you want to give a baby milk

or butter? Also, my teacher says that the impurities like DDT, etc.

go to the fat milk solids which are removed.

 

He extols the internal and external use of ghee on the skin. There

are ayurvedic ghees, which will help the body in the assimiliation

of fats from ghee. I know one of the herbs is gotu kola.

 

GB Khalsa

[Guest guest]

Dear Ossi

 

This subject has attracted several responses; the author would like

to add just few more lines:

 

Indian country cow Ghee reduces cholesterol, does not build it. This

is an expereience on several Cardio-Vascular-Disease (CVD) patients.

One of them very recently completed 21 km Marathon non-stop in

Mumbai, in a slow jogging mood and is now considering going to

Himalayan Treks. Cow ghee is also used in Cancer Camps, where all

types of secondary cancer patients are being treated by PanchGavya

medicines.

 

Of course the ability of ghee in reducing cholesterol may differ

depending on the type of cow and her diet. In some Goushalas

experiments are in progress to study correlation between cow diet and

resulting PanhGavya medicines. Different cow breeds have slightly

different properties.

 

In ayurveda, several medicines are prepared by boiling butter along with fresh

herbs/herbal powders/extracts since ghee squeezes out all the medicinal

properties of herbs, almost equivalent to taking the fresh juice of the herb.

Arjun Ghruta is the well known heart toner made in ghee, to cite an example. At

least fifty other come to the mind.

 

Ghee dose should typically be 1-2 tsp in every meal, unless directed otherwise.

 

Dr. Bhate

[Guest guest]

Dr. Bhate,

In some of our better super markets we have section called foods of the world.

I noticed that Ghee was one of them. Would that be safe to buy? Also, in your

post on summer blues, you stated grapes are good for many things. We do have

them year round here in the States. They are either red or green, both taste

the same! Would that be considered a good choice?? Thank you!

Bonnie

[Guest guest]

Walmart will be selling Amul Ghee shortly.

 

> Dr. Bhate,

> In some of our better super markets we have section called foods

of the world. I noticed that Ghee was one of them. Would that be

safe to buy?

> Bonnie