Cow ghee or buffalo ghee: Which is a healthier variety?

As Indians, we all love adding ghee to almost every meal we have. It not only enhances the flavours, but has several health benefits too. In fact, that’s the sole reason why ghee has been in use since ages. Despite being a staple in most households, its consumption can depend from person to person since there are so many different varieties of ghee available in the market now. Hence, choosing the right and healthier version has now become important, with cow ghee and buffalo ghee being the two most popular ones used.

What exactly is ghee?

It is a form of clarified butter which is made by boiling butter in order to separate the liquid and milk solid portions from the fat.

Difference between cow ghee and buffalo ghee

difference between ghee and butter
Your mama ain’t wrong–ghee IS good for you. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Both types of ghee, be it cow ghee or buffalo ghee, are good and have a lot of health benefits. If you want to make the right decision towards the healthier choice, it would not be wrong to say that both cow ghee and buffalo ghee are not bad for your health. Starting with their most basic difference, which is the colour, most of us know that buffalo ghee is white in colour while cow ghee is yellow in colour.

In terms of health benefits, cow ghee has more reasons to be a better pick as compared to the buffalo ghee. “The nutritional content in cow ghee enhances your mental and physical health, and it also possesses a lot of medicinal values. That’s why, it’s held with a high regard in Ayurveda and is used to perform several therapeutic activities too. It makes it viable for other supplements to get absorbed better in your system,” Rashi Chahal, Nutritionist, Rosewalk Healthcare, told Health Shots.

Another important factor that puts cow ghee above buffalo ghee is that it contains lower fat content. On the other hand, buffalo ghee has a higher number of fats.

“The cow milk ghee is considered lighter because it has lesser quantities of phosphorus with a similar amount of calcium, magnesium and protein in comparison to buffalo milk. The excess content of phosphorus buffalo ghee does now allow the calcium to get absorbed properly, which inhibits Vitamin D’s absorption in the body, and can lead to obesity in a longer run,” Chahal added.

ghee and honey
Don’t miss out on the benefits of ghee. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

Therefore, cow ghee is consumed more in comparison to buffalo milk because of the fat content and the ability to be absorbed and utilised better by the human body. Albeit, the reason why buffalo milk also has been used for centuries is that it has a longer shelf life. It can be stored and preserved for longer days in comparison to cow milk.

So, what do you choose?

To say the least, cow ghee is certainly a healthier pick. Nowadays, people don’t do too much physical hard work or burn too many calories. That is why they don’t require that kind of fat the buffalo milk provides to the system. So, only if you are looking to gain weight, using buffalo ghee would be a better choice.

So, make your decision wisely.