ghee is a favoured component in indian cooking while it was considered healthy once upon a time todays generations are a little more apprehensive about its saturated fat content however many still continue to consume rotis curries and dals laced with ghee could this be a prime cause behind indias growing numbers of lifestyle diseases we approached a nutritionist and a dietician to help us understand ghees properties better so is ghee healthy for you find out what they saidwhat is ghee ghee is clarified butter that is traditionally prepared from cows milk but to speed up the process you can make ghee with unsalted butter this butter is melted over a medium flame in some time froth will form and the oil will turn pale yellow keep it on a low flame till the oil turns golden filter it and the ghee solidifies ghee does not need refrigeration and it has a long shelf lifehow do indian households use ghee ghee is used in briyanis mithais like besan ka laddoo shankarpali and chappatis ghee is also used for deep frying even though indians use ghee in preparing dishes it is not unique to our people it is also used in nepalese indonesian pakistani and iranian cuisineshow is ghee connected to cholesterol ghee has approximately the same cholesterol content as butter ie 215mg100gms consuming excess amounts of ghee can lead to cardiac problems hypertension liver diseases and obesity if you already suffer from one or more of these conditions or have been told that you are at risk of developing any of them then it would be advisable to completely abstain from ghee pure or vegetableare all kinds of ghee unhealthy whats the difference between pure ghee and vegetable ghee ms pallavi srivastava nutritionist at evolve medspa explains the difference in the types of ghee she breaks down the barriers around pure ghee and says cows ghee is full of nutritive qualities pure ghee contains only those fatty acids or saturated fats that are primarily 89 short chain fatty acids it is the longer chain fatty acids that are associated with blood clotting and thrombosis she goes on to explain how pure ghee is healthier than vegetable ghee short chains are not only easier to digest but help hormone production and strengthen cell membranes ghees short chain fatty acids are also metabolized very readily by the body lab studies have shown pure ghee to reduce cholesterol both in the serum and intestine this is done by increasing the secretion of biliary lipidsso what about vegetable ghee is vegetable ghee healthy pallavi says indian restaurants and some households may use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil also known as vanaspati or dalda or vegetable ghee in place of ghee because of its lower cost this vegetable ghee may contain trans fat trans fats are said to cause serious health conditions in fact since vegetable ghee is so high in trans fats it is considered extremely harmful for people especially those who live