The American Love Affair With Fat — and the Politics Behind It

When John F. Kennedy — RFK Jr.’s uncle — told the National Conference on Milk and Nutrition back in 1962 that “milk is our most nourishing food … in the form of butter, cheese, and ice cream”, it was more than a compliment to cows.
It was a paid endorsement dressed up as national pride.

Sixty-plus years later, the torch has been passed — and instead of questioning how an animal-based, fat-heavy diet helped create an epidemic of metabolic disease, Washington is still flirting with dairy lobbyists while pretending it’s science.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization Says the Opposite

  • Saturated fats should make up less than 10% of your daily calories.

  • Trans fats (many of which come from animal sources) should be less than 1%.

  • Replace those fats with unsaturated fats from plants to cut the risk of heart disease and stroke.

They’re not exactly saying “pass the butter.” They’re saying “put it down before it kills you.”

Yet U.S. health messaging — now under the influence of RFK Jr.’s “food freedom” ideology — keeps treating saturated fat like misunderstood poetry. Apparently, the WHO is “too globalist” to understand the healing power of whipped cream.

The Dairy Lobby’s Invisible Hand

Behind every “real food” campaign and every “drink whole milk again” headline is an industry that spends millions lobbying Congress, reshaping guidelines, and seeding confusion about what’s “healthy.”

Dairy fat has been rebranded as “natural” and “traditional,” while public health groups still warn that it’s a primary source of cholesterol and saturated fat. The same rhetoric that once sold cigarettes as “refreshing” now sells cheese as “wholesome.”

And guess what? It’s working. U.S. per-capita cheese consumption is at an all-time high, even as obesity rates skyrocket. The industry knows exactly how to play the nostalgia card — milk ads, butter revivalism, and “Got Milk?” 2.0 for the TikTok crowd.

RFK Jr.’s “Health” Agenda: Fat on the Table, Science Off It

RFK Jr. has built a career challenging institutions — vaccines, science agencies, climate policy — and now he’s in charge of one. Under his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, he talks about “ultra-processed foods” but conveniently skips the reality that cheese and butter are ultra-processed too — they’re concentrated, high-fat products that deliver exactly what WHO says to avoid.

If you’re serious about chronic disease, you don’t double-down on dairy.
You talk about plant-based diets, fiber, micronutrients, and education — not nostalgia, nationalism, and “the right to eat what Grandma did,” when Grandma wasn’t surrounded by drive-thrus and 64-ounce milkshakes.

The Hard Truth: America Is Drowning in Fat and Politics

This isn’t about personal choice anymore. It’s about policy disguised as appetite — politicians comforting industries that comfort voters. The dairy lobby doesn’t just sell milk; it sells identity. “Real Americans eat butter.” “Strong bones, strong nation.”

And now, with RFK Jr. leading U.S. health policy, the line between “nutrition reform” and “corporate indulgence” looks blurrier than ever. We’re subsidizing obesity and calling it freedom.

Here’s what the science — the real, boring, unsexy kind — actually says:

  • Animal fats raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

  • Dairy contributes significantly to saturated-fat intake in Western diets.

  • Replacing those fats with plant-based oils, nuts, seeds, and legumes reduces heart disease risk.

  • Americans already exceed WHO’s fat recommendations several times over.

So the next time someone in Washington says “we need more healthy fats,” ask yourself who wrote the check for that.

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