Curd vs buttermilk: What’s a better summer cooler for your body?

Having curd with food is almost a staple in every Indian household. It keeps the body cool. However, have you ever thought that chaach or buttermilk that is made using curd itself, may be better to keep your body cooler in the summer heat? As per Ayurveda, not only is buttermilk lighter to digest, but it also suits all body types. It is believed that curd leaves a warming effect on the body, while buttermilk is cooling in nature. If that blows your mind, then read on to know why buttermilk could be better for your body in terms of its cooling effects.

Health Shots reached out to Dr Priyanka Rohatgi, Chief Clinical Dietician, Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru, to understand why buttermilk cools down the body better than curd.

Health benefits of buttermilk vs curd

When you consume curd, it interacts with the stomach heat and catalyses the fermenting process aggressively. This increases the temperature of the body instead of cooling it down. However, the same does not happen when we drink buttermilk because when you put water in the curd, the fermentation stops.

1. Aids in digestion

Both curd and buttermilk are probiotics that keep the gut bacteria healthy. This tasty-yet-healthy drink of buttermilk is a powerhouse of important probiotics, vitamins, and minerals that keeps our body temperature low even in extreme heat. So, you can drink a glass of cold buttermilk to revive your energy and cool down your body naturally.

Pro tip: You can add condiments such as cumin powder, pink salt, and cilantro to provide some extra added benefits in digestion. In India, people also add clarified butter (ghee) along with hing, ginger, chilly and curry to aid in the digestion process.

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2. Buttermilk aids in weight loss

“If your digestive fire is aggravated and you have proper digestion, then you can have whole-fat curd to help you gain weight. However, if you have weight-loss goals, you can just have buttermilk with an extra amount of water and less curd ratio,” shares the expert.

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3. Drinking buttermilk gives you a lighter feeling

“The potency of curd is hot, while the buttermilk made using the same curd goes through a different process and, its formulation makes it cool in nature. So, we can keep away from the curd in the summer season and have buttermilk instead,” says the expert.

Other benefits of chaach

Apart from easing digestion and combating dehydration, buttermilk has some other health benefits, points the expert.

• It helps soothe an irritated gut lining after a spicy meal.
• It washes down the fats that you have consumed in a heavy meal.
• It is a good source of calcium and can also be taken by lactose-intolerant people, who have to skip on milk.
• It is rich in vitamins and is hence healthy for your body.
• Milk fat globule membranes found in buttermilk help control high blood pressure. It is also a bioactive protein that keeps cholesterol under check.
• The same globules are also anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer.
• It also helps soothe an irritated stomach lining due to acid reflux thus helping combat acidity.