Butter - Spreading the Truth and Dispelling the Myths

The last decade or so has - much to the dismay of large food corporations nationwide - seen a sharp rise in the number of people taking more of an interest and active role in improving their diets and consequently raising their overall health and fitness levels.
It is clear that good health and well-being will continue to become even stronger a priority for more and more people in the future. This is worrisome to processed and manufactured foods companies, and has likely spurred what appears to be many seedy attempts of theirs to undermine and control the flow of accurate information passed around with regards to the effects of various natural foods and diets on our health, in an effort to portray their manufactured foods as being superior options, thus retaining or growing their profits.
The popular transition from butter to artificial alternatives is a particularly prominent illustration of this. We've been bombarded with news report after news report about various so-called scientific discoveries claiming a link between eating natural butters and an increased risk of heart disease, cancer and a myriad of other awful diseases. Supposedly, the saturated animal fats that make up natural butters are the root cause of many dangerous and life-threatening diseases, and should be cut of our diets as much as possible - replaced instead by "healthier" hydrogenated fats found in artificially manufactured spreads. But how much of this is the truth, and to what extent do these companies have an effect on the information we are exposed to being biased in their favor?
Bearing the aforementioned accusations in mind, you may well find it rather surprising that when Dr. Weston Price heavily researched natives diets in the 1930s, his findings were that butter (being a staple in their diets) actually had no noticeable negative health impact at all. These were some immensely healthy people.
In addition, statistics tell us that during the period between 1920 and 1960, the amount of butter consumed on a per-person per-year basis decreased from around 18 pounds per year to a mere 4. At the same time cases of heart disease were up drastically where previously cases had been very rare. It seems unfair to accuse butter as being detrimental to ones health when there is much evidence to the contrary, and evidence in support of the accusations is skewed.
The overwhelming majority of indications are that real butter has a positive health impact. There are many vitamins found in saturated animal fats which are integral to the strengthening of the immune system and the warding off of many diseases including the likes of cancer. Studies have shown that butter can have a positive effect on arthritis and can also lessen the risk of Osteoporosis, problems with the thyroid glands and can promote good gastrointestinal health