Ghee?

Ghee is clarified butter.

Ghee is clarified butter.

Don't tell the Indian sub continent that.

Without getting into great detail on the entire process of making ghee (since the OP is asking about health benefits, not ghee making), I think it is safe to say at its essence ghee is a form of clarified butter. I don't even think you can get the proper milk (with the cream) for making ghee at home in the US.

Health Consequences of Ghee and Butter

Research on ghee and health is limited, but fairly consistent. When ghee is consumed at levels above 10% total calories, it can increase risk of cardiovascular disease. (For a person consuming 1,800 calories per day, 10% of those calories would be 180 calories, or about 20 grams of fat, which equals approximately 2 tablespoons of ghee.) At levels under 10% of total calories, however, ghee appears to help lower cardiovascular risks, especially when other fats consumed during the day are exclusively from plants or plant oils.

Butter, like ghee, can increase risk of cardiovascular disease when consumed in excessive amounts. One research study has shown that 3 tablespoons of butter per day over 4 weeks can increase total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. For this reason, if you are going to cook with butter, you will want to keep the amount at a moderate level of no more than 1-2 tablespoons.

The benefits of butter at moderate levels do not yet have the same level of research backing as ghee. However, there is increasing research interest in butter as having some unique potential benefits of its own, particularly in relationship to its vitamin K and vitamin D content. This content may vary, however, depending on the diet and living circumstances of the dairy cow. (We look forward to new research in this area, especially with respect to vitamin K2.)

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=newtip&dbid=9

Wait, butter is unhealthy? Since when? Stearic acid (the saturated fat in butter) is very good for your heart.

Except too much moderation. Wait. What?

Abstract
In contrast to earlier epidemiologic studies showing a low prevalence of atherosclerotic heart disease (AHD) and type-2 dependent diabetes mellitus (Type-2 DM) in the Indian subcontinent, over the recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of these diseases in Indians--both abroad and at home, attributable to increased dietary fat intake. Replacing the traditional cooking fats condemned to be atherogenic, with refined vegetable oils promoted as "heart-friendly" because of their polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content, unfortunately, has not been able to curtail this trend. Current data on dietary fats indicate that it is not just the presence of PUFA but the type of PUFA that is important--a high PUFA n-6 content and high n-6/n-3 ratio in dietary fats being atherogenic and diabetogenic. The newer "heart-friendly" oils like sunflower or safflower oils possess this undesirable PUFA content and there are numerous research data now available to indicate that the sole use or excess intake of these newer vegetable oils are actually detrimental to health and switching to a combination of different types of fats including the traditional cooking fats like ghee, coconut oil and mustard oil would actually reduce the risk of dyslipidaemias, AHD and Type-2 DM.

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Interesting. In the 1980s when they were pushing safflower oil, my nose told me the stuff can't be very good. It would go rancid in a matter of a day or two and I decided that inedible rancid oil wasn't something I wanted in my mouth.

Butter, like ghee, can increase risk of cardiovascular disease when consumed in excessive amounts. One research study has shown that 3 tablespoons of butter per day over 4 weeks can increase total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. For this reason, if you are going to cook with butter, you will want to keep the amount at a moderate level of no more than 1-2 tablespoons.
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