In India, cow derived products commonly known as Panchagavya is used as medicine since time immemorial and the same is well documented in ancient Indian literature ‘Ayurveda’ as Panchagavya Chikitsa. Ghee being one of the important components of Panchagavya is always considered as good food and provides important nutrients required for our overall growth and development. Ghee is considered to have many medicinal properties, has fat soluble vitamins and is also suitable to individuals who are casein and lactose sensitive. It is an excellent vehicle for transporting herbal constituents to the deeper tissue layers of the body. Today there are many scientific reports available which prove the utility of ghee to the mankind. In August 2015 a journal, Materials Letters published 
a research paper on ghee entitled ‘Catalyst free low temperature synthesis and antioxidant activity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes accessed from ghee, clarified butter of cow ׳s milk’. The study was reported by Abhijit Nath et al. from the Department of Chemistry, Assam University, Silchar , India. In the above study investigators developed a novel technique of preparing nanoparticles using ghee from Indigenous cow as a starting raw material. The nanoparticles or multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCN) were synthesised without any catalyst at low temperature. Further the synthesised nanoparticles were characterised using imaging techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction studies. These characterisation reports confirmed the formation of nanoparticles from ghee. The nanoparticles or multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCN) were then subjected for the evaluation of free radical scavenging property (Antioxidant activity) using DPPH assay method. The results of the study reported promising antioxidant activity of the newly synthesised nanoparticles.
CONCLUSION: Ghee from Indigenous cow could be a very good inexpensive bio resource for the production of naoparticles with significant antioxidant properties.
REFERENCE: Abhijit Nath. et al., Catalyst free low temperature synthesis and antioxidant activity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes accessed from ghee, clarified butter of cow’s milk. Materials. Letters 2015; 152:36–39
