5 Health Benefits of Ghee in Coffee [Based on Science!]

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To make your coffee more enjoyable, you might want to sweeten it with honey, maple syrup, milk, or ghee. But what are the health benefits of ghee in coffee?

Ghee, a kind of butter prepared from clarified cow’s milk, has health benefits over other spreads. So skip the butter, and add ghee to your cup of joe. Bulletproof coffee is now accessible to those who cannot consume dairy products.

History Of Ghee and Coffee

Let’s examine the historical background of the practice of putting ghee in coffee in order to have a better grasp on where the notion first came from.

There may be evidence that the habit of putting butter in coffee dates back to the 7th century. Tibetan yak butter tea has been a staple of mountaineering culture for centuries.

Tibetans rave about its skin-soothing properties, digestive advantages, and high caloric content. Which protects your lips and face from the dryness that might occur in Tibet’s very chilly climate.

While the Chinese may be credited for popularizing yak butter tea somewhere in the 1300s, it was American entrepreneur, author, and biohacker David Asprey who developed the Bulletproof Coffee and the Bulletproof Diet.

People started to like butter in their coffee when it was extensively studied and widely publicized in the media. The health advantages of ghee were certain to be discovered eventually.

Clarified butter is a common misconception about ghee. To create ghee, first fresh milk is boiled to create butter, and then the butter is boiled again to remove any impurities.

This very pure butter has found dual use in Ayurveda, an ancient system of supplementary medicine dating back over 6,000 years, and in the kitchen. While most ghee is produced using cow’s milk, there is also sheep’s milk ghee available.

Bulletproof coffee with butter
Image credit: Getty images

Top 5 Health Benefits of Ghee In Coffee

Coffee with ghee
Image Credit: marekuliasz, Shutterstock

Combining ghee with coffee is delicious and has some surprising benefits. And eating ghee alone has many health benefits, too – here’s a quick rundown of some of our favorites!

Ghee’s high butyric acid content suggests it might help quell inflammation. Several researches showed that butyric acid reduced inflammation and enhanced intestinal health. External applications of ghee have been used to cure burns and decrease edema in Ayurvedic medicine.

The presence of conjugated linoleic acids: Several medical diseases, including excessive cholesterol, obesity, and cancer, have shown promise in the studies conducted on conjugated linoleic acid.

Ghee is an excellent way to increase your consumption of the fat-soluble vitamin A. Vitamin A is well-known for the many benefits it provides, including maintaining healthy skin, eyes, and immune systems.

Ghee’s high omega-3 content may make it useful for easing inflammation. As an added bonus, ghee helps keep your heart healthy.

Ghee is a healthy option for individuals who cannot tolerate lactose or who are allergic to dairy.

Ghee Nutrition

This is the nutritional information for one tablespoon serving of ghee:


Name
Amount in Ghee
Calories123
Fat14 grams
Saturated fat9 grams
Monounsaturated fat4 grams
Polyunsaturated fat0.5 grams
Vitamin A13% of the Daily Value (DV)
Vitamin E3% of the DV
Vitamin K1% of the DV
Carbohydrates0 grams
Fiber0 grams
Sugar0 grams

Potential Disadvantages

Is there anything not to like about putting ghee in your coffee? This is somewhat subjective, however the most often cited drawbacks are:

  • Taste/Texture: Some people don’t like the oily taste or texture that ghee creates in a hot beverage.
  • Extra fat: If you are trying to avoid as much excess fat as possible, you may not be willing to give up the high-fat content of ghee (even though it contains many good fats).
  • Individual responses to consuming saturated fat are highly variable. If you have increased LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in response to high saturated fat intake, you may want to limit ghee intake to 1 or 2 tablespoons per day.
  • Extreme sensitivity to dairy: While most people with dairy allergies and intolerances can consume ghee without any problems, people with extreme sensitivity to dairy products should be cautious.

The Bottom Line: Health Benefits of Ghee in Coffee

There you have it! Whether you need additional healthy fats in your diet or want to enhance your coffee without adding dairy, ghee is for you. So grabs some gee and enjoy your bulletproof coffee with all the health benefits of ghee!

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Featured image credit: Julie_vdd, Pixabay