Ghee contains about 3.2 g of butyric acid per 100 g on USDA FoodData Central figures, which is roughly 0.16 g in a 5 g teaspoon. Groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils contain none. Whether eating that butyric acid does anything for the gut has not been tested in a human trial that we could find.
This article describes composition and research. It makes no claim that ghee treats or improves any digestive condition. If you have irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease or any other digestive condition, follow your doctor's advice on what to eat, including fats.
At a glance
- USDA lists 3.23 g of butyric acid per 100 g of anhydrous butter oil, about 3.4 per cent of its fatty acids and 0.16 g in a 5 g teaspoon.
- FSSAI's ghee standard requires butyric acid at 1 to 5 per cent of total fatty acids; groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils have none, and coconut oil a trace.
- Butyric acid drives the Reichert-Meissl value, about three-quarters of it, which FSSAI sets at a minimum of 24 for ghee.
- Eaten in ghee, butyric acid is released early and travels to the liver; no source measures how much reaches the large bowel.
- Gut research concerns butyrate made by bacteria from fibre, or sodium butyrate given as a medicine; no human trial has tested ghee for gut health.
How much butyric acid is in ghee?
About 3.23 g per 100 g, or 3.4 per cent of its fatty acids. USDA's ghee record lists total fat and saturated fat but no individual fatty acids, so this figure comes from USDA's record for anhydrous butter oil, which our saturated fat article also uses.
The ghee record, Butter, Clarified butter (ghee), gives 100 g of fat and 60.0 g of saturated fat per 100 g, but no individual acids. In the butter oil record, the saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids add up to 94.29 g (61.9 + 28.7 + 3.69), and butyric acid is 3.23 g of that, or 3.4 per cent (3.23 ÷ 94.29).
That sits inside FSSAI's range. Its standard for milk fat products includes a table of the fatty acid composition ghee must meet, and it puts butyric acid (C4:0) at 1 to 5 per cent of total fatty acids. A 2008 review of bovine milk fat by Helena Lindmark Månsson found 4.4 per cent by weight in Swedish dairy milk, between 4.0 and 5.1 per cent across the samples. Counted as a share of molecules instead of weight, the review notes, it is about 10 per cent.
The per-teaspoon figure below uses 5 g, the teaspoon in Annexure I of the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians. Our ghee nutrition guide also gives figures for USDA's 12.8 g tablespoon; a third of that, a 4.3 g teaspoon, holds about 0.14 g (3.23 × 0.043).
| Fat (USDA FoodData Central record) | Total fat per 100 g | Butyric acid per 100 g | Per 5 g teaspoon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghee (butter oil, anhydrous) | 99.5 g | 3.23 g | 0.16 g (3.23 × 5 ÷ 100 = 0.1615) |
| Butter, without salt | 81.1 g | 3.23 g | 0.16 g (3.23 × 5 ÷ 100 = 0.1615) |
| Coconut oil | 99.1 g | 0.009 g | 0.0005 g (0.009 × 5 ÷ 100 = 0.00045) |
| Groundnut (peanut) oil | 100 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Soybean oil | 100 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Sunflower oil (linoleic, about 65 %) | 100 g | 0 g | 0 g |
How does ghee compare with butter and vegetable oils?
Ghee and butter carry about the same butyric acid per teaspoon, roughly 0.16 g. Coconut oil has only a trace, and groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils have none at all on USDA figures. Of the fats in the table, only the two milk fats have butyric acid in any real amount.
The butter figure needs one note. USDA lists the same 3.23 g per 100 g for unsalted butter as for butter oil, even though butter is only 81.1 g fat and carries 16.2 g of water. We give both as listed rather than adjust them.
The shorter fatty acids that coconut oil does carry are mainly longer than butyric acid: USDA lists 6.8 g of caprylic acid (8 carbons) and 5.39 g of capric acid (10 carbons) per 100 g. How ghee's whole fat split compares with these oils is set out in our article on whether ghee is saturated or unsaturated fat.
Why does butyric acid mark ghee as milk fat?
Because among common fats it occurs in real quantity only in milk fat. FSSAI's methods manual says these lower fatty acids are peculiar to milk fat. The Reichert-Meissl value, which mostly measures butyric acid, is one of the values FSSAI's ghee standard sets, with a minimum of 24.
The butyric acid in milk fat starts in the cow's rumen. The Månsson review explains that fermentation of feed there produces acetate and butyric acid, the butyric acid becomes β-hydroxybutyrate as it is absorbed, and the mammary gland then builds the 4- to 14-carbon fatty acids from acetate and β-hydroxybutyrate.
FSSAI's 2015 manual of methods for milk and milk products defines the Reichert-Meissl value as the millilitres of 0.1 N alkali needed to neutralise the water-soluble, steam-volatile fatty acids distilled from 5 g of ghee. It says butyric acid contributes about three-quarters of the value and caproic acid (6 carbons) about one-quarter. The manual also notes:
- Cow and buffalo ghee generally show a Reichert-Meissl value of about 28.
- Of the common vegetable oils, only coconut and palm kernel contain steam-volatile acids, and both show a value of about 7.
- Ghee from animals fed cotton seed can have a much lower value, about 20.
The current FSSAI standard sets the minimum at 24.0 for ghee, alongside a Polenske value of 0.5 to 2.0, which mainly reflects the 8- and 10-carbon acids. The cotton-seed figure means one low value is not, on its own, proof of adulteration. Our guide to reading a ghee lab report explains these values next to the others on a report.
What happens to butyric acid when you eat ghee?
According to the Månsson review, it is released early. Butyric acid sits almost entirely at one end position of the fat molecule, and lipases in the mouth and stomach preferentially release fatty acids from that position. The 4- to 10-carbon acids then pass through the stomach wall into the portal vein and travel to the liver, where they are oxidised.
That route runs to the liver. Nothing in the sources we read measures how much butyric acid from ghee, if any, reaches the large bowel.
Does the butyrate in ghee help gut health?
There is no trial evidence that it does. Gut research describes butyrate as something gut bacteria make by fermenting dietary fibre, and its trials test sodium butyrate given as a medicine. We found no human trial testing ghee, or the butyric acid it contains, for gut health, so no claim about ghee and the gut rests on a trial.
A recent summary of the medical research is a 2026 systematic review of sodium butyrate in ulcerative colitis by Golea and colleagues. It describes butyrate as a short-chain fatty acid produced by gut microbial fermentation of dietary fibre. It included 22 studies: ten clinical trials, one observational study and eleven animal studies. In adults with ulcerative colitis, oral sodium butyrate, particularly microencapsulated forms, showed encouraging effects when added to standard therapy. Results in children were inconsistent. The reviewers called the clinical evidence heterogeneous and said larger, well-designed randomised trials are needed before routine clinical use can be considered.
None of this transfers to a spoon of ghee. Those trials gave sodium butyrate, a purified compound, to people with diagnosed ulcerative colitis. ICMR-NIN's guidance on gut microbes points to other foods: it says fruits and vegetables are sources of prebiotics that help improve intestinal flora, and that whole grains such as millets induce favourable changes in the gut microbiota.
What did we search to check for ghee and gut-health trials?
We searched PubMed on 7 October 2026 using three searches. None returned a human trial of ghee for gut health. The nearest was a mouse study of fatty acids purified from yak ghee. The human studies of ghee we found measured blood lipids, cardiometabolic risk factors, liver fat or an Ayurvedic oleation grade, not the gut.
- Ghee with gut terms: "ghee" in the title or abstract with gut, intestin*, microbio*, colon*, bowel or digest*. 30 records, mostly laboratory, digestion-model, animal and review papers, or studies in which ghee was only part of a diet. One small human study compared ghee dose schedules for Ayurvedic internal oleation and did not measure gut health.
- Ghee trials of any kind: "ghee" with the publication type Randomized Controlled Trial or Clinical Trial. 10 records. The ghee trials among them looked at blood lipids, cardiometabolic risk factors or liver fat; judging by their abstracts, none tested ghee for a gut or digestive outcome.
- Ghee and butyrate: "ghee" with butyr*. 3 records, all laboratory work on telling genuine ghee from adulterated or buffalo ghee.
Finding no trial does not show that ghee has no effect. It shows the question has not been tested in people.
What should you do if you have a digestive condition?
Follow your doctor's advice. Digestive conditions differ, so the right amount of ghee, if any, is a question for your doctor or a dietitian who knows your case. Do not change a treatment because of anything you read about butyrate.
For the general population, ICMR-NIN's guidelines advise limiting ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, or avoiding it if possible. On the figures above, 2 teaspoons carry about 0.32 g of butyric acid (0.16 × 2). We make ghee at Himdhara, and we would rather you chose it for flavour than for a gut-health promise the evidence does not support.
The short version
Ghee contains about 3.2 g of butyric acid per 100 g on USDA figures, roughly 0.16 g in a 5 g teaspoon, while groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils contain none. Because butyric acid is peculiar to milk fat, it drives the Reichert-Meissl value, for which FSSAI's ghee standard sets a minimum. Gut research concerns butyrate made by gut bacteria from fibre, or sodium butyrate given as a medicine, and we found no human trial of ghee for gut health. If you have a digestive condition, follow your doctor's advice.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter oil, anhydrous. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Chapter 2.1: Dairy products and analogues. Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2015). Manual of Methods of Analysis of Foods: Milk and Milk Products. FSSAI, New Delhi.
- Lindmark Månsson H (2008). Fatty acids in bovine milk fat. Food & Nutrition Research.
- Golea GI, Ilieș RA, Caziuc A, et al. (2026). Sodium Butyrate Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review of Preclinical and Clinical Evidence. Medical Sciences (Basel).