A comparison of the physico-chemical properties of low-cholesterol ghee with standard ghee from cow and buffalo creams

Health benefits of ghee: Review of Ayurveda and modern science perspectives

The scientific view on dairy fats is undergoing a change. While at one time they were associated with negative health effects, recent scientific research has provided new insights into the functional benefits of dairy fats and their fatty acids. This changing scientific view on dairy fats is also resulting in a scientific interest in Ghee, the clarified butter obtained from milk. Ghee, besides being a traditional milk product of cultural importance in India and finding extensive use in its cuisines, is also one of the most important ingredients of the materia medica of Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine that originated in India. While modern scientific literature has limited studies on functional benefits of ghee, Ayurveda literature extensively catalogues the therapeutic potential of ghee and details different types of ghee based on source of milk, manufacturing method, maturation and physical phase. This work reviewed the Ayurveda literature on health benefits of ghee and examined the complementarity and gaps between Ayurveda literature and modern scientific literature to identify research questions and hypotheses for further exploring the therapeutic potential of ghee. The Ayurveda literature review involved curation of references to ghee in eleven important Ayurvedic texts spanning over 3000 years. 4000 references to milk and milk products were curated from these texts, of which 2913 mentions were in the context of therapeutic benefits of milk products. Of these, ghee had 774 mentions, the highest amongst milk-based products. These mentions were grouped into 15 benefit clusters. A review of ghee in modern literature published between 1990 and 2023 was also conducted. A comparison of this with the Ayurveda literature showed that there were major differences in the focus areas of health between the two. While recent research primarily focused on ghee's connection with cardiovascular health, wound healing and skin health, Ayurveda prioritized cognitive benefits, gastrointestinal health, and nourishing. These later areas are of growing importance to human health as global population ages, and chronic and brain related diseases start dominating public health concerns. As scientists search for solutions to these, ghee, its usage and formulations in Ayurveda and the detailed associations between ghee's animal source, processing, maturation, phases and health benefits, may have scientific insights to offer that can guide future research.

Validation of the Methods for the Non-Milk Fat Detection in Artificially Adulterated Milk with Palm Oil

Dairy products are among the most adulterated food products. Due to the current high price of milk fat, it has been replaced by low-cost oils, especially those oils that have the same fatty acid profile as milk fat. This study intends to confirm the lowest level of palm oil added to milk and validate various methods for detecting palm oil in milk, including gas chromatography, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, and Fourier transform infrared. Different amounts of palm oil were prepared in the final liquid milk using five treatments of fresh milk cream and an emulsion of palm oil. The results of this study showed that the values of the saponification number decreased with the increase in the percentages of added palm oil. There was no decrease under the limits of the Egyptian standards until the addition of 50% palm oil. The iodine number is less sensitive than the saponification number in the detection of palm oil. Butyro refractometer reading is unable to detect the palm oil in milk. The fatty acid profile in milk determined by gas chromatography correlated well with the addition of palm oil. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between the level of added palm oil and the β-sitosterol content as measured by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. There was no relationship between the behavior of the spectra resulting from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the presence of palm oil.

Recent innovations in functionality and shelf life enhancement of ghee, clarified butter fat

Ghee (clarified butter fat) is a well relished traditional fat rich dairy product. Ghee preparation involves concentration of milk fat using of different techniques, followed by heat treated at 110-120 °C for 10-20 min. During this process, moisture evaporates from the system with simultaneous changes in protein, lactose, fat and minerals. Interaction among these thermally altered species results into the development of characteristic 'ghee' flavor. But, the presence of unsaturated free fatty acids makes it highly susceptible to oxidative spoilage. Efforts have been made to increase the shelf life and functionality of ghee by adding many functional ingredients and natural antioxidants from different sources. This review deals with the different process employed for ghee preparation and the attempts made in the past two decades years to increase the functionality and shelf life of ghee. Also, the changes taking place during ghee preparation and flavour generation has been discussed in this review.

Improved cholesterol depletion with enhanced astaxanthin and polyunsaturated fatty acids of lipid from Pacific white shrimp cephalothorax using prior ethanolic separation of polar lipid and β-Cyclodextrin

Shrimp lipid (SL) from Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) cephalothorax was subjected to ethanol separation with subsequent cholesterol removal. Around 98.4% of cholesterol was removed from cholesterol rich polar lipid fraction (PLF), in which PLF/β cyclodextrin (β-CD)/mixed solvents (ethyl acetate/water,1:1) at the ratio of 1:10:20 (w/w/v) were used. Thereafter, PLF with lowered cholesterol was combined with non-polar fraction rich in triglycerides to obtain lowered cholesterol shrimp lipid (LC-SL). Astaxanthin content in LC-SL was augmented by three-fold, compared to that found in SL. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) contents of LC-SL were also significantly increased, contrasted with SL. Peroxide value and phospholipids were decreased in LC-SL (4.56 ± 0.15 meq/kg and 9.94 ± 1.9%) compared to those of SL (4.80 ± 0.25 meq/kg and 49.11 ± 2.1%), while TBARS and p-Anisidine values remained unchanged. However, conjugated dienes and free fatty acids were augmented, plausibly due to hydrolysis. FTIR spectra confirmed the increased degree of unsaturation of lipids. Thus, the lowered cholesterol shrimp lipid could be used as functional foods or nutraceutical for health promotion.

Preparation and physicochemical characterization of ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta

BACKGROUND

Ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana is a process of pre-treatment recommended in Ayurveda to purify ghee before it can be used for siddha ghŗ̥ta which is claimed to improve the properties of the ghee in general and that of the prepared siddha ghŗ̥ta.

OBJECTIVE

This work is aimed at studying the physiochemical properties of ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta in order to understand the impact of ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ghee and mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta were prepared from the milk of local Pahadi, Jersey and Holstein cows. The samples were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and free fatty acid measurements.

RESULTS

Among the samples studied, the Holstein cow ghee was found to contain the least amount of free acid (1.34%) whereas ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process led to further decrease in the free acid content polymorphism was observed in the samples as evidenced by multiple melting points. In most cases, mūrcchita ghŗ̥ta was found to contain less solid fat than the corresponding ghee implying that the high melting compound was converted to low melting one during the process.

CONCLUSION

The observed lowering of free fatty acid and solid fat contents in the ghee samples may provide a possible validation to the performance enhancement of the ghŗ̥ta mūrcchana process.

Physicochemical characteristics of phytonutrient retained red palm olein and butter-fat blends and its utilization for formulating chocolate spread

Phytonutrients retained palm olein (PRPOL) was prepared and blended into butterfat at different ratios. The physicochemical characteristics and the phytonutrient composition of blends, as well as its utilization in the preparation of functional chocolate spread were evaluated. The results showed that the redness, yellowness, slip melting point, free fatty acids, peroxide value, iodine value, unsaponifiable matter, diacylglycerol and monoacylglycerol increased while lightness, saponification value, and triacylglycerol significantly decreased upon incorporation of increased quantities of PRPOL into butterfat. The incorporation affected short chain, medium chain and long chain fatty acids content along with variation in the palmitic, stearic, oleic acids content of the blends as compared to butterfat alone. Improvement in carotenoids (6-27 fold), phytotosterols (3-15 fold), tocopherols and tocotrienols (4-17 fold), and squalene (1-6 fold) in blends was observed upon incorporation of PRPOL. Cholesterol level in the blends was reduced (10-50 %) as compared to the butterfat. The blends showed an intermediate solid fat content of PRPOL and butterfat. Moreover, radical scavenging activity of the blends increased with increase in PRPOL quantity. Prepared chocolate spreads showed similar fat, moisture, colour components (L*, a* and b*) and better emulsion stability. The hardness of the spreads was increased upon increasing quantity of PRPOL. The sensory evaluation showed that chocolate prepared by replacing butterfat with 20 % PRPOL had acceptable sensory attributes.

Virtual milk for modelling and simulation of dairy processes

The modeling of dairy processing using a generic process simulator suffers from shortcomings, given that many simulators do not contain milk components in their component libraries. Recently, pseudo-milk components for a commercial process simulator were proposed for simulation and the current work extends this pseudo-milk concept by studying the effect of both total milk solids and temperature on key physical properties such as thermal conductivity, density, viscosity, and heat capacity. This paper also uses expanded fluid and power law models to predict milk viscosity over the temperature range from 4 to 75°C and develops a succinct regressed model for heat capacity as a function of temperature and fat composition. The pseudo-milk was validated by comparing the simulated and actual values of the physical properties of milk. The milk thermal conductivity, density, viscosity, and heat capacity showed differences of less than 2, 4, 3, and 1.5%, respectively, between the simulated results and actual values. This work extends the capabilities of the previously proposed pseudo-milk and of a process simulator to model dairy processes, processing different types of milk (e.g., whole milk, skim milk, and concentrated milk) with different intrinsic compositions, and to predict correct material and energy balances for dairy processes.

Cholesterol extraction from ghee using glass beads functionalized with beta cyclodextrin

Beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was covalently immobilized on glass surface. Functionalized glass surface was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and elemental analysis. Glass surface functionalized with β-CD was used to remove cholesterol from ghee (clarified butter fat). 78.8 % cholesterol was reduced in 2 h at 25 °C and 170 rpm. Same surface was used repeatedly for 10 cycles and no reduction in cholesterol removal efficiency was observed. Modified glass surface showed almost no degradation in repeated use in cholesterol reduction experiments.

Cholesterol and Lipid Peroxides in Animal Products and Health Implications - A Review

The level of oxysterols in animal products depends on the temperature used in food processing, duration of heating, and storage time and conditions. High temperature, oxygen, exposure to light, chemical composition of the product and low level of antioxidants accelerate the formation of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs). Also the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in meat and eggs favours the formation of oxysterols. Dairy products are characterized by the lowest content of COPs of all animal products. The most common oxysterols present in products of animal origin are 7-ketocholesterol, 20α-hydroxycholesterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol and α, β-epoxycholesterol. Numerous studies have confirmed the adverse effects of COPs on animal and human health. They exhibit mutagenic, carcinogenic, angiogenic and toxic action, damage cell membranes, and inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis. The use of certain antioxidants in animal nutrition limits the formation of COPs during technological processing of meat, eggs and milk, as well as during storage of fresh products. The excessive oxidation of cholesterol can be additionally prevented through the use of appropriate packaging that limits oxygen and light exposure.