After 40 years of being vilified, the tide has turned in a big way for saturated fats. And that support is now coming from outside dairy circles. Most recently, a front-page article in the October 7, 2015, The Washington Post bore the headline, "Thinning case that fat causes heart ills."

"By warning people against full-fat dairy foods, the United States is ‘losing a huge opportunity for the prevention of disease,' said Marcia Otto, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas and the lead author of large studies published in 2012 and 2013, which were funded by government and academic institutions, not the dairy industry." That was just one of the investigative statements found in The Washington Post article by Peter Whoriskey.

As Whoriskey dug deeper into writing his article, he added: "But Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, epidemiologist and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said that the Dietary Guidelines have yet to retreat far enough from the idea that saturated fat is a dietary evil and that the suspicion of whole milk is a good example. ‘Judging a particular food solely on how much fat it contains,' he said, ‘can too easily blind people to its other benefits.'"

"The ‘campaign to reduce fat in the diet has had some pretty disastrous consequences,' Walter Willett, dean of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, has said. ‘With more fat-free products than ever, Americans got fatter,'" continued the article.

The Washington Post wasn't the only organization to turn up the heat on decades of "bad spin" against good fats. On October 7, the House Agriculture Committee placed U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary Burwell and USDA Secretary Vilsack on the hot seat as well.

At issue was progress and potential recommendations in the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). Not only did representatives discuss the past in which fats were listed as bad, but the group looked to the future of the government's food advice.

"I don't think the general public is paying attention," said Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) "For those who are, they are very skeptical of the whole process. For example, we were once told that butter and eggs were bad for you, but now I guess they're okay. People may be losing confidence in the guidelines."

Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said, "The federal dietary guidelines directly affect each and every American and should be based on sound, consistent and irrefutable science. I appreciate Secretary Vilsack and Secretary Burwell for making this issue a priority, but I remain concerned that the advisory committee went far beyond its scope when advising on issues such as food sustainability and tax policy – areas in which the committee does not have expertise, evidence, or charter," said the Texas Republican.

"Consumers should be able to trust the science behind DGA without fear of political or personal bias influencing each recommendation. After all, these guidelines are intended to help Americans make educated food purchasing decisions and live a healthy lifestyle."

For more on dairy fats, follow this link.