If you love butter and cheese, you’re gonna love this! Recently a study was published in the respected British Medical Journal showing evidence that 60 years of government and medical convention that linked cardiovascular disease to fat consumption was based on bad science.

The article scientifically corroborated last years’ Time Magazine cover story on the failures of the so-called “Lipid Hypothesis” (lipid is the scientific designation for fat), which incorrectly blamed excessive consumption of dairy products, meat and other fatty foods for heart attacks. The article entitled “Eat Butter” admitted that after years of proclaiming fats as villains, it turns out, they may have been mistaken. Now in fairness, Time Magazine and representatives of the medical model can be forgiven for their ignorance. Fats are confusing! There’s good fats, bad fats, shorts fat, long fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Because of their tremendous diversity and functionality, no aspect of nutrition or diet is harder to understand than the chemistry of lipids.

Lipid is chemistry talk for fat, phobia means fear and for decades American consumers have been deluged with lipo-phobic propaganda and low-fat food fad hype. Beginning in the 1950’s, when a University of Minnesota professor named Ancel Keys came up with his “Lipid Hypothesis”, which blamed heart disease on fatty foods, and continuing for over 60 years, dietary fats have been vilified by scientists, academics and medical professionals as causes of obesity, heart attacks and cancer among numerous other health issues.

But, despite its insalubrious and unsavory reputation, fat, on the body and in the diet too, is actually an important part of good health. Fat functions include transportation of nutrients and essential fatty acids thorough the blood, the production of hormones and the production of cells. Fat is a shock absorber. It traps water helping the body and the skin maintain hydration and acts as a type of insulation helping the body regulate body temperature. Healthy digestion depends on substances like bile and prostaglandins, both fat derived. Fat on our frames is actually a type of gland tissue that produces and secrets numerous fatty hormones. And most fundamentally, fat is our body’s primary source for stored energy.