Effects of diets rich in ghee or olive oil on cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy adults: a two-period, crossover, randomised trial.

This study aimed to evaluate the cardiovascular health-related effects of consuming ghee in the usual diet. Thirty healthy men and women were studied in a free-living outpatient regimen. The participants were instructed for the isoenergetic inclusion of ghee or olive oil in their diets for 4 weeks using a randomised crossover design. At the end of run-in (baseline), 2-week wash-out and interventions, fasting blood samples were drawn. In addition, 2-h postprandial blood samples were collected after ingestion of a meal containing olive oil or ghee at week 4 of each dietary intervention. Body weight was not different between the two interventions. Compared with the olive oil, the diet with ghee increased fasting plasma apo-B (apo B) (0·09, 95 % CI 0·02, 0·17 g/l, = 0·018), non-HDL-cholesterol (non-HDL-cholesterol) (0·53, 95 % CI 0·01, 1·05 mmol/l, = 0·046) and LDL-cholesterol did not differ significantly between diet groups (0·29, 95 % CI -0·05, 0·63 mmol/l, = 0·092), but had no significant effect on total cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol ratio (0·75, 95 % CI - 0·24 to 1·74 mmol/l, = 0·118). No significant difference was observed in fasting as well as 2-h postprandial plasma TAG, glucose, insulin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 concentrations. This study showed that ghee that is predominantly saturated fats had an increasing effect on plasma apo B and non-HDL-cholesterol compared with olive oil, adding further evidence to the existing recommendations to replace dietary fats high in SFA with dietary fats high in unsaturated fats to reduce CVD risk.