Ghee is mostly saturated fat. On USDA FoodData Central figures, about two-thirds of its fatty acids are saturated, close to a third are monounsaturated, and under 4 per cent are polyunsaturated. That makes it far more saturated than common cooking oils, and less saturated than coconut oil.
This article explains the split and what the guidelines say about saturated fat in general. It makes no health claim for or against ghee. If you have a heart condition, high cholesterol, diabetes or any other reason to watch your fat intake, follow your doctor's advice rather than any general comparison.
At a glance
- On USDA figures for anhydrous butter oil, ghee's fatty acids are about 66 per cent saturated, 30 per cent monounsaturated and 4 per cent polyunsaturated.
- Palmitic, stearic and myristic acids make up about 78 per cent of the saturated fat; short-chain acids from butyric to capric add about 8.7 g per 100 g, which common vegetable oils lack.
- Butter has the same split as ghee; coconut oil is about 91 per cent saturated, and groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils 11 to 18 per cent.
- Ghee carries some natural trans fat from ruminant milk, about 2.7 per cent of fatty acids in Swedish milk; that is different from the industrial trans fat in vanaspati.
- WHO caps saturated fat at 10 per cent of energy, about 22 g on 2,000 kcal, and ICMR-NIN says to limit ghee or butter to one to two teaspoons a day.
What is the saturated and unsaturated fat split in ghee?
About 66 per cent saturated, 30 per cent monounsaturated and 4 per cent polyunsaturated, counting only the fatty acids. USDA's record for anhydrous butter oil, which we use for ghee as in our other Journal articles, lists 61.9 g saturated, 28.7 g monounsaturated and 3.7 g polyunsaturated fat in every 100 g.
The three groups add up to 94.3 g, not the 99.5 g of total fat USDA lists. Milk fat is about 98 per cent triglycerides, molecules in which fatty acids are attached at three positions on a glycerol backbone, and the fatty acid totals do not count that backbone or minor lipids such as cholesterol. So the honest way to give percentages is as a share of the fatty acids:
| Ghee, per 100 g (USDA butter oil, anhydrous) | Grams | Share of fatty acids |
|---|---|---|
| Saturated fat | 61.9 g | 65.6 % (61.9 ÷ 94.3) |
| Monounsaturated fat | 28.7 g | 30.4 % (28.7 ÷ 94.3) |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 3.7 g | 3.9 % (3.7 ÷ 94.3) |
| All three together | 94.3 g | 100 % (rounding gives 99.9) |
| Total fat, as listed | 99.5 g | not a fatty acid figure |
Calories, vitamins and per-spoon figures are in our ghee nutrition guide, so we do not repeat them here.
Which fatty acids make up ghee's saturated fat?
Mostly long-chain ones. In USDA's butter oil record, palmitic acid (16 carbons) is the largest at 26.2 g per 100 g, followed by stearic acid (18 carbons) at 12.1 g and myristic acid (14 carbons) at 10.0 g. Together those three are about 48 g, roughly 78 per cent of the 61.9 g of saturated fat.
What sets milk fat apart is the rest. A 2008 review of bovine milk fat by Helena Lindmark Månsson of the Swedish Dairy Association calls it the most complex of all natural fats, with about 400 different fatty acids. It also carries fatty acids with short chains. USDA's groundnut, soybean and sunflower oil records list none of the 4- to 10-carbon ones; coconut oil has some, mainly 8 and 10 carbons. For butter oil USDA lists, per 100 g:
- Butyric acid (4 carbons): 3.2 g. In Swedish milk, the review found, butyric acid was almost half of the short-chain fatty acids.
- Caproic acid (6 carbons): 1.9 g.
- Caprylic acid (8 carbons): 1.1 g.
- Capric acid (10 carbons): 2.5 g.
- Lauric acid (12 carbons): 2.8 g.
The labels "short-chain" and "medium-chain" are not used consistently. The same review counts 4 to 10 carbons as short-chain in one place and 8 to 14 carbons as medium-chain in another, so the two groups overlap. On the first definition, USDA's figures give 8.7 g of short-chain fatty acids (3.2 + 1.9 + 1.1 + 2.5), about 14 per cent of ghee's saturated fat. The review's Swedish milk samples gave about 11 per cent.
Chain length matters in digestion. The review explains that butyric and caproic acids sit almost entirely at one end position of the triglyceride, the position that lipases in the mouth and stomach preferentially release. The 4- to 10-carbon acids then pass to the liver, where they are oxidised. That describes how milk fat is handled, not a health effect of eating ghee.
Why is ghee solid in winter and liquid in summer?
Because ghee is not one fat but a mixture of many different triglycerides, and they melt at different temperatures. There is no single point at which the jar melts. On a cold morning more of those molecules are solid and ghee sets firm; on a hot afternoon more have melted and it pours.
A review of milk fat globules from the University of Pisa describes milk lipids as triglycerides with different melting points. A laboratory study of ghee made in Nepal from the milk of Pahadi, Jersey and Holstein cows, using differential scanning calorimetry, found multiple melting points in the samples. Neither abstract gives a temperature at which household ghee turns liquid, so we do not offer one.
The mix itself can shift with the seasons. In Swedish dairy milk, the Månsson review reports, saturated fatty acids were lowest in summer, when cows were grazing, and highest in winter, when they were fed indoors. Unsaturated fatty acids showed the opposite pattern. How far that applies to Indian hill cattle, we do not know.
How does ghee compare with butter, coconut oil and vegetable oils?
Ghee and butter have the same fat split; the main difference is water. Coconut oil is more saturated than ghee, at about 91 per cent of its fatty acids. Groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils sit at the other end, with saturated fat at about 11 to 18 per cent of their fatty acids.
| Fat (USDA FoodData Central record) | Saturated | Monounsaturated | Polyunsaturated | Fatty acids in all | Saturated share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghee (butter oil, anhydrous) | 61.9 g | 28.7 g | 3.7 g | 94.3 g | 65.6 % |
| Butter, without salt | 50.5 g | 23.4 g | 3.0 g | 76.9 g | 65.7 % |
| Coconut oil | 82.5 g | 6.3 g | 1.7 g | 90.5 g | 91.2 % |
| Groundnut (peanut) oil | 16.9 g | 46.2 g | 32.0 g | 95.1 g | 17.8 % |
| Soybean oil | 15.7 g | 22.8 g | 57.7 g | 96.2 g | 16.3 % |
| Sunflower oil (linoleic, about 65 %) | 10.3 g | 19.5 g | 65.7 g | 95.5 g | 10.8 % |
Each share is saturated fat divided by the sum of the three groups: for butter, 50.5 ÷ 76.9; for coconut oil, 82.5 ÷ 90.5. Butter holds less fat per 100 g mainly because USDA lists 16.2 g of water in it, but its fatty acids are split almost exactly as ghee's are.
The unsaturated part differs too. Ghee's is mostly monounsaturated, led by oleic acid at 25.0 g. In groundnut oil monounsaturated fat is also the largest group, while soybean and sunflower oils are mostly polyunsaturated. Our ghee and coconut oil comparison covers the lauric acid behind coconut oil's figure.
Does ghee contain trans fat?
Some, naturally. WHO's 2023 guidance says trans fatty acids come from industrial processing and also from ruminant animals, naming meat and dairy foods from cows and sheep. The Månsson review puts trans fatty acids at about 2.7 per cent of the fatty acids in Swedish milk. USDA's butter oil record gives no trans fat figure.
This is different from vanaspati. ICMR-NIN explains that partial hydrogenation turns liquid vegetable oils solid by converting unsaturated fatty acids into saturated ones and into trans fatty acids, and its guidelines advise avoiding vanaspati as a cooking medium. WHO's limit of no more than 1 per cent of energy from trans fat covers both industrial and ruminant sources.
What do ICMR-NIN and WHO say about saturated fat?
Both advise limiting it, and both name ghee as a source. WHO says that for everyone aged two and over, no more than 10 per cent of total energy should come from saturated fatty acids. ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians say to limit oils and fats high in saturated fat, such as ghee and butter.
The two bodies put it in different units. The arithmetic below is ours, using USDA's 61.9 g of saturated fat per 100 g of ghee:
- WHO (2023): 10 per cent of a 2,000 kcal day is 200 kcal. At the 9 kcal per gram of fat that ICMR-NIN uses, that is about 22 g of saturated fat from all foods together, not from ghee alone.
- ICMR-NIN, visible fats (2024): saturated fat use is called high above 10 g a day of visible saturated fat on a 2,000 kcal diet, and excessive above 5 per cent of daily energy.
- ICMR-NIN, ghee itself (2024): limit ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, or avoid it if possible. The guidelines' menu tables count a teaspoon of oil or ghee as 5 g, so 2 teaspoons carry about 6.2 g of saturated fat (10 g × 0.619).
These are guidelines for the general population, not advice for any one person. For what the trials on ghee itself found, see our review of ghee and cholesterol evidence. If you are managing a condition, your doctor's advice comes before any of these figures.
Does the kind of ghee change the fat split?
Nothing in our sources shows that it does. The figures are USDA averages, not one brand or breed. The Månsson review lists breed, feeding, lactation stage and season among the things that change milk fat, so any batch can differ. None compares A2, bilona or grass-fed ghee with other ghee, so we make no claim either way.
At Himdhara we make A2 bilona ghee from the milk of free-grazing Badri cattle in the Uttarakhand hills. We do not quote USDA's numbers as ours. The laboratory report for each batch is published on our lab reports page before the batch ships, and that report, not a general table, is where a batch's own figures belong.
The short version
Ghee is mostly saturated fat: on USDA figures, about 66 per cent of its fatty acids are saturated, 30 per cent monounsaturated and 4 per cent polyunsaturated. Most of the saturated part is long-chain palmitic, stearic and myristic acid, with a smaller share of short-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid that groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils lack. Butter has the same split, coconut oil is more saturated, and groundnut, soybean and sunflower oils are far less so. WHO and ICMR-NIN both advise limiting saturated fat and name ghee as a source; if you have a medical 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).
- Lindmark Månsson H (2008). Fatty acids in bovine milk fat. Food & Nutrition Research.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad.
- World Health Organization (2023). WHO updates guidelines on fats and carbohydrates. WHO news release.