Ghee carries vitamin A and small amounts of vitamins E and K, but almost no vitamin B12, C or D. On USDA figures, a 12.8 g tablespoon holds about 107.5 µg of vitamin A, roughly 11 per cent of ICMR-NIN's daily allowance for men and 13 per cent for women. If you are thinking of ghee because of a vitamin deficiency, follow your doctor's advice rather than these figures.
At a glance
- Ghee holds the fat-soluble vitamins of milk: on USDA's butter oil figures, 840 µg of vitamin A, 2.8 mg of vitamin E and 8.6 µg of vitamin K per 100 g, and no vitamin D listed.
- A 12.8 g tablespoon carries about 107.5 µg of vitamin A, 11 per cent of ICMR-NIN's 2020 allowance for men and 13 per cent for women.
- Vitamin B12 and vitamin C are water soluble and leave with the buttermilk: a tablespoon has about 0.0013 µg of B12 against an allowance of 2.2 µg.
- Beta-carotene gives ghee its colour but supplies only about 2 per cent of its vitamin A; nearly all the rest is retinol.
- Two teaspoons, ICMR-NIN's ceiling for ghee, carry about 84 µg of vitamin A; a deficiency needs a doctor's plan, not more ghee.
Which vitamins does ghee contain?
Ghee contains the fat-soluble vitamins: vitamin A, both as retinol and as beta-carotene, plus small amounts of vitamins E and K. On USDA's figures it has essentially no vitamin B12 or vitamin C, and USDA lists no vitamin D. The vitamins present are the ones that dissolve in fat, because ghee is almost entirely milk fat.
ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) sets out the split: vitamins A, D, E and K are fat soluble, while vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, including B12, are water soluble.
There is a catch in the data. USDA FoodData Central has an entry called "Butter, Clarified butter (ghee)", but the only vitamins it lists are vitamin A, as 4,000 IU per 100 g, and vitamin C, as zero, both back-calculated from a product label rather than analysed. For a full vitamin profile we use USDA's "Butter oil, anhydrous" entry, the same figures our ghee nutrition per tablespoon article draws on. Butter oil is not ghee made the Indian way, so treat its figures as a guide rather than a measurement of any jar.
How much of each vitamin is in a tablespoon of ghee?
About 107.5 µg of vitamin A, 0.36 mg of vitamin E, 1.1 µg of vitamin K and 0.0013 µg of vitamin B12, with no vitamin C or D listed. These are USDA's butter oil values per 100 g times 0.128, for its 12.8 g tablespoon. Only vitamin A reaches a share worth noting of ICMR-NIN's 2020 Recommended Dietary Allowances for adults.
| Vitamin | Per tablespoon (12.8 g) | ICMR-NIN RDA 2020, adults | Share of RDA from one tablespoon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin A (as RAE) | 107.5 µg (840 × 0.128) | Men 1,000 µg; women 840 µg | Men 10.8% (107.5 ÷ 1,000); women 12.8% (107.5 ÷ 840) |
| Vitamin D | 0 (none listed) | 600 IU, men and women | 0% |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) | 0.36 mg (2.8 × 0.128) | Not given in the summary | Not calculated |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone) | 1.1 µg (8.6 × 0.128) | Not given in the summary | Not calculated |
| Vitamin B12 | 0.0013 µg (0.01 × 0.128) | 2.2 µg, men and women | About 0.06% (0.0013 ÷ 2.2) |
| Vitamin C | 0 mg | Men 80 mg; women 65 mg | 0% |
Read the table with four caveats in mind.
- Spoon size. USDA's tablespoon of butter oil weighs 12.8 g; ICMR-NIN's household measures use 15 g. With a 15 g spoon, vitamin A comes to 126 µg (840 × 0.15), or 12.6 per cent of the men's allowance and 15.0 per cent of the women's. Our guide to ghee spoon measures in grams explains why the two differ.
- Units. USDA gives vitamin A as retinol activity equivalents (RAE). ICMR-NIN's brief note lists vitamin A in micrograms without naming the basis, so treat the share as close rather than exact.
- Missing allowances. The ICMR-NIN brief note gives no figures for vitamins E and K, so we show no share for them.
- Database values. Several of the butter oil values, including vitamins D and K and beta-carotene, are carried over by USDA from another form of the food or a similar food and adjusted for fat, not measured in butter oil directly. The retinol figure is taken from another table of food composition.
Does ghee have vitamin B12?
Practically none. USDA lists 0.01 µg of vitamin B12 per 100 g of butter oil, which is about 0.0013 µg in a 12.8 g tablespoon. ICMR-NIN's 2020 allowance for adults is 2.2 µg a day, so a spoon supplies about 0.06 per cent of it. Reaching the allowance would take about 1,700 tablespoons (2.2 ÷ 0.0013).
So ghee cannot be counted as a B12 food at all. This matters most for vegetarians, for whom ICMR-NIN's guidelines name B12 as a nutrient of concern. The same guidelines note that milk has a small amount of B12, and they suggest curd or yoghurt, eggs and flesh foods as sources. If you have been told your B12 is low, the plan should come from your doctor.
Why do fat-soluble vitamins stay in ghee while B12 and C do not?
Because ghee keeps the milk's fat and discards almost everything else. Vitamins A, D, E and K dissolve in fat, so they travel with the fat from milk into butter and then into ghee. B12 and C dissolve in water, so they stay with the watery part of the milk, most of which leaves as buttermilk.
USDA lists 88.1 g of water per 100 g of whole milk and 16.2 g in unsalted butter. Its figures also show the vitamin pattern. The table expresses each vitamin per 100 g of fat, so milk, butter and butter oil can be compared fairly: the value per 100 g of food, divided by the fat content, times 100.
| USDA entry | Fat, g per 100 g | Vitamin E per 100 g of fat | Vitamin K (phylloquinone) per 100 g of fat | Vitamin B12 per 100 g of fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat | 3.25 | 2.15 mg (0.07 ÷ 3.25 × 100) | 9.2 µg (0.3 ÷ 3.25 × 100) | 13.8 µg (0.45 ÷ 3.25 × 100) |
| Butter, without salt | 81.1 | 2.86 mg (2.32 ÷ 81.1 × 100) | 8.6 µg (7.0 ÷ 81.1 × 100) | 0.21 µg (0.17 ÷ 81.1 × 100) |
| Butter oil, anhydrous | 99.5 | 2.81 mg (2.8 ÷ 99.5 × 100) | 8.6 µg (8.6 ÷ 99.5 × 100) | 0.01 µg (0.01 ÷ 99.5 × 100) |
Vitamins E and K stay roughly level per gram of fat: they follow the fat. Vitamin B12 per gram of fat falls from 13.8 µg in milk to 0.21 µg in butter, about 1.5 per cent of the milk figure (0.21 ÷ 13.8 ≈ 0.015), and to almost nothing in butter oil. One caution: USDA derives butter oil's vitamin K from another form of the food or a similar food, adjusted for fat, so the match on that row is partly built in. These are American products, so read the pattern, not the exact values.
Vitamin C is a different story. USDA lists whole milk itself at 0.0 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, so there is little to lose in the first place. ICMR-NIN's guidelines also note that B-complex vitamins and vitamin C are easily destroyed by heat, and ghee is made by clarifying butter over heat.
Does the vitamin A in ghee change with feed and season?
The carotene part does. Beta-carotene in milk is higher in summer and falls with winter feeding, and the yellow colour of dairy fat is most strongly associated with grass-based feeding. But in USDA's butter oil entry, beta-carotene accounts for only a small part of the vitamin A figure; nearly all of it is retinol.
USDA lists 824 µg of retinol and 193 µg of beta-carotene per 100 g of butter oil, for a total of 840 µg of vitamin A as RAE. So beta-carotene contributes 16 µg (840 − 824) of the 840, about 2 per cent (16 ÷ 840 ≈ 0.019). A tablespoon carries about 24.7 µg of beta-carotene itself (193 × 0.128).
A 2021 review of carotenoids in milk, published in Foods, describes carotenoids as stored in the lipid fraction of milk and beta-carotene as a vitamin A precursor. It cites a Dutch study of bulk-tank milk in which winter feeding cut beta-carotene by 20 per cent, and French bulk milk that was higher in beta-carotene in summer, peaking in September. Our article on why ghee colour changes with the season follows that pigment from pasture to jar.
So a golden ghee probably carries more beta-carotene than a pale one, but that is a small slice of its vitamin A. We found no figure for how much the retinol itself shifts with feed, so read the 107.5 µg as one database value, not a constant. Himdhara's ghee is made from the milk of free-grazing Badri cattle in the Uttarakhand hills, but this article quotes no vitamin figures for it.
Can ghee help with a vitamin deficiency?
Do not use it for that without your doctor's advice. A deficiency needs a diagnosis, and the treatment is for a doctor to decide. On the figures above, ghee gives a modest share of vitamin A and close to nothing of vitamins D, B12 or C, so it has little to offer for most deficiencies people ask about.
Even for vitamin A, quantity works against ghee. ICMR-NIN's guidelines suggest limiting ghee or butter to one or two teaspoons a day, or avoiding it if possible, and they measure a teaspoon as 5 g. Our article on how much ghee a day the guidelines allow sets that limit in context. Two teaspoons, 10 g in all, would carry about 84 µg of vitamin A (840 × 0.10), around 8 per cent of the men's allowance and 10 per cent of the women's. Eating more would mean more saturated fat, which the same guidelines ask people to limit.
For vitamin D, ICMR-NIN's guidelines point to exposure to sunlight. Whatever the vitamin, follow the course your doctor sets out.
The short version
Ghee holds the fat-soluble vitamins of milk, chiefly vitamin A, with small amounts of E and K. On USDA's butter oil figures, a 12.8 g tablespoon has about 107.5 µg of vitamin A, roughly 11 per cent of ICMR-NIN's 2020 allowance for men and 13 per cent for women. It has close to no vitamin B12 or C, because those dissolve in water and leave with the buttermilk, and USDA lists no vitamin D. Feed and season change the beta-carotene in ghee, but that is a small share of its vitamin A. Anyone with a deficiency 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.
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Butter oil, anhydrous (FDC ID 173412). FoodData Central, SR Legacy.
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Butter, Clarified butter (ghee) (FDC ID 171314). FoodData Central, SR Legacy.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2020). A Brief Note on Nutrient Requirements for Indians, the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) and the Estimated Average Requirements (EAR), ICMR-NIN, 2020. ICMR-NIN.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN.
- Conboy Stephenson R, Ross RP, Stanton C (2021). Carotenoids in Milk and the Potential for Dairy Based Functional Foods. Foods.