Ghee and palm oil are both high in saturated fat, but not the same saturated fat. On USDA figures about 66 per cent of ghee's fatty acids are saturated, including short- and medium-chain acids that palm oil lacks, while palm oil is about 52 per cent saturated, most of it palmitic acid. Those differences are also how laboratories catch palm oil blended into ghee.
This compares composition and standards; it is not a health ranking. If you are choosing a fat for a medical reason, follow your doctor's advice.
At a glance
- On USDA figures about 66 per cent of ghee's fatty acids are saturated, against 52 per cent of palm oil's and 86 per cent of palm kernel oil's.
- Palm oil's saturated fat is mostly palmitic acid (43.5 g per 100 g); ghee's is spread from butyric acid upward, and only ghee carries cholesterol and vitamin A.
- Palmolein is palm oil's liquid fraction, with an FSSAI iodine value of 54 to 62 against 25 to 38 for ghee.
- Palm oil is a common ghee adulterant because it is cheap and physically similar; laboratories catch it by the RM value, β-sitosterol and triglyceride or fatty acid analysis, which found it at 5 per cent.
- ICMR-NIN and WHO name both ghee and palm oil as saturated fats to limit; follow your doctor's advice on health.
What is the difference between ghee and palm oil?
Ghee is milk fat with almost all the water and milk solids removed. Palm oil comes from the fleshy mesocarp of the oil palm's fruit, by pressing or solvent extraction. Both are almost pure fat. Ghee carries cholesterol, vitamin A and short-chain fatty acids; palm oil carries none of these, and far more palmitic acid.
For ghee we use USDA's record for anhydrous butter oil, which has a full fatty acid breakdown; FSSAI covers butter oil and ghee in one standard. USDA's "Oil, palm" record does not say whether the oil is crude or refined. We also add palm kernel oil, which FSSAI defines as oil from the kernel of the same fruit, because it is a different fat despite the shared name.
| Per 100 g (USDA FoodData Central) | Ghee (anhydrous butter oil) | Palm oil | Palm kernel oil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 876 kcal | 884 kcal | 862 kcal |
| Total fat | 99.5 g | 100 g | 100 g |
| Saturated fat | 61.9 g | 49.3 g | 81.5 g |
| Monounsaturated fat | 28.7 g | 37.0 g | 11.4 g |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 3.7 g | 9.3 g | 1.6 g |
| Butyric acid (C4:0) | 3.2 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| C4 to C10 acids combined | 8.7 g | 0 g | 7.2 g |
| Lauric acid (C12:0) | 2.8 g | 0.1 g | 47.0 g |
| Palmitic acid (C16:0) | 26.2 g | 43.5 g | 8.1 g |
| Oleic acid (C18:1) | 25.0 g | 36.6 g | 11.4 g |
| Cholesterol | 256 mg | 0 mg | 0 mg |
| Vitamin A (RAE) | 840 µg | 0 µg | 0 µg |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) | 2.8 mg | 15.9 mg | 3.8 mg |
The C4 to C10 row adds butyric, caproic, caprylic and capric acids: 3.2 + 1.9 + 1.1 + 2.5 g for ghee, and 0.2 + 3.3 + 3.7 g for palm kernel oil, which has no butyric acid. Counting only the fatty acids, saturated fat is about 66 per cent of ghee's (61.9 out of 94.3 g), 52 per cent of palm oil's (49.3 out of 95.6 g) and 86 per cent of palm kernel oil's (81.5 out of 94.5 g).
How do the saturated fats in ghee and palm oil differ?
Palm oil's saturated fat is mostly one acid: palmitic, at 43.5 of its 49.3 g. Ghee spreads its saturated fat across a wider range, from four-carbon butyric acid up to stearic, with palmitic at 26.2 g. Palm kernel oil differs again: nearly half its fatty acids are lauric.
FSSAI's fatty acid tables say the same thing in percentages of total fatty acids. Ghee must contain 1 to 5 per cent butyric acid and measurable caproic, caprylic and capric acids. Palm oil and palmolein must have no detectable caproic, caprylic or capric acid; the vegetable oil table does not list butyric acid at all. Palmitic acid is allowed at 22 to 38 per cent in ghee, 32.0 to 47.5 per cent in palm oil and 38.0 to 43.5 per cent in palmolein.
Per tablespoon, using USDA's weights of 12.8 g for butter oil and 13.6 g for palm oil, that is about 7.9 g of saturated fat in ghee and 6.7 g in palm oil. Palm kernel oil, at the same 13.6 g, carries about 11.1 g. Lauric acid is also what dominates coconut oil, covered in our ghee and coconut oil comparison.
What is palmolein, and how does FSSAI define it?
Palmolein is the liquid part of palm oil: FSSAI defines it as the liquid fraction obtained by fractionating palm oil, and sets its own standard: an iodine value of 54 to 62, a saponification value of 195 to 205, a cloud point of no more than 18°C and an acid value of no more than 6.0.
Fractionation also yields palm stearin, the high-melting fraction. Side by side, the FSSAI limits show where the fats separate:
- Iodine value: ghee 25 to 38; palm oil 45 to 56; palmolein 54 to 62.
- Saponification value: ghee 205 to 235; palm oil and palmolein 195 to 205; palm kernel oil 237 to 255.
- Butyro-refractometer reading at 40°C: ghee 40.0 to 44.0; palmolein 43.7 to 52.5. The two ranges overlap at the top of ghee's.
- Raw palm oil: palm oil pressed in India may be sold unrefined if its free fatty acids are no more than 3.0 per cent. Above that, up to 10.0 per cent, whether imported or domestic, or if solvent-extracted, it must be refined first. Palmolein from solvent-extracted palm oil must also be refined.
Refining changes palm oil's colour. ICMR-NIN explains that crude palm oil is red because the fruit pulp is rich in beta-carotene, and that these carotenes are lost during refining.
Where does palm oil turn up in vanaspati and bakery fats?
Palm fats can go into vanaspati, and through it into bakery shortening. FSSAI defines vanaspati as refined vegetable oil that has been hydrogenated or interesterified, and allows it to be made from any edible vegetable oil with a standard in its regulations. Palm oil, palmolein, palm stearin and palm kernel oil all have one.
FSSAI defines bakery shortening as vanaspati for making bakery products. ICMR-NIN notes that vanaspati is used as a substitute for ghee or butter in cooking and in sweets, snack foods and bakery products. We found no checkable source for how much Indian vanaspati is made from palm.
FSSAI forbids any colour resembling ghee's, requires any flavour to be distinct from ghee's, and requires enough sesame oil to give a positive Baudouin test. Trans fat in vanaspati and bakery shortening has been capped at 2 per cent by weight since 1 January 2022.
Why is palm oil used to adulterate ghee, and how is it caught?
Because it is cheap and physically similar to milk fat. A 2025 laboratory study led from Kamdhenu University describes palm oil as widely used because it is inexpensive. It says that despite significant differences in fatty acids and triglycerides, palm oil's similar physical properties make it an appealing choice for adulteration, and that detecting it is always a challenging task.
Ramani and colleagues mixed refined market palm oil into ghee at 5 to 20 per cent. Because palm oil has no butyric or caproic acid, the RM value fell significantly even at 5 per cent, but the authors concluded that RM alone could not settle purity, and the BR reading and iodine value were less effective at low levels. Triglyceride analysis by gas chromatography and plant sterol detection by HPLC found palm oil at 5 per cent.
Researchers at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal built a paper disc that detects synthetic antioxidants extracted from adulterated ghee, and detected palm oil added to cow ghee at 2.5 per cent or more. Both are laboratory studies on prepared samples, not surveys of market ghee. Our article on ghee adulteration in India covers these tests and the other adulterants in detail.
Is ghee or palm oil healthier?
We do not rank them. ICMR-NIN lists palm oil and ghee among foods containing saturated fat, and advises limiting oils and fats high in it. WHO's 2023 guidance also names butter, ghee, palm oil and coconut oil as sources, and recommends that everyone aged 2 and over get no more than 10 per cent of energy from saturated fat.
On a 2,000 kcal diet, 10 per cent is 200 kcal, or about 22 g of saturated fat at 9 kcal per gram. ICMR-NIN gives a figure for visible fat: it counts saturated fat use as high above 10 g a day of visible saturated fat, whether as ghee or butter or through heavy use of palm or coconut oil in snacks and sweets. It also advises limiting ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, or avoiding it if possible.
If you are managing cholesterol, a heart condition or any other diagnosis, follow your doctor's advice.
How can you check what is in your ghee?
Ask for a laboratory report that matches the batch code on the jar. For palm oil in particular, the useful lines are the RM value, the BR reading, β-sitosterol and, where reported, the fatty acid profile. As the palm oil studies show, no single result clears a jar on its own.
- Check the RM value is at least 24.0. Palm oil has no butyric acid, so blending pulls it down.
- Check the BR reading at 40°C is 40.0 to 44.0; small blends can stay inside it.
- Look for β-sitosterol reported as absent, as the FSSAI ghee standard requires. Adding palm oil raised it in the 2025 study.
- If a fatty acid profile is given, butyric acid should fall between 1 and 5 per cent.
Our guide to reading a ghee lab report explains each line. Every jar of Himdhara's A2 bilona ghee carries a batch code, and the laboratory report for each batch is published before it ships.
The short version
Both fats are rich in saturated fat, but ghee's includes short-chain acids such as butyric, palm oil's is mostly palmitic, and palm kernel oil's mostly lauric. Palmolein is palm oil's liquid fraction, with its own FSSAI standard. Palm oil is used to adulterate ghee because it is cheap and physically similar; laboratories catch it through the RM value, sterols and triglyceride or fatty acid analysis. ICMR-NIN and WHO advise limiting saturated fat from both, and anyone with a medical condition should follow their 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).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Oil, palm. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2022). Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 (2.1.8 Milk Fat Products; 2.2.1 Oils; 2.2.6 Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils; 2.2.7 Fatty Acid Composition). FSSAI compendium, version XXVI.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN.
- Ramani A, Hazra T, Tarafdar A, et al. (2025). Comprehensive Studies on Detection of Palm Oil Adulteration in Clarified Milk Fat (Ghee). International Journal of Food Science.