Is butter, along with other sources of saturated fats, back on the table, as many have recently claimed?

It is. Just not in the quantities the meat, dairy and fast-food industries might have you ingest.

Unless you have a medical condition that dictates otherwise, there’s no reason to cut anything – not butter, ice cream or Porterhouse steak — completely from your diet as long as you mainly eat plant-based foods (vegetables, fruits and whole grains), lean animal protein and fish and don’t go overboard on foods rich in saturated fats that can cause harm in excess.

That’s the conclusion of the best available evidence I’ve reviewed for maximizing the health of body and brain and enjoying a long life.

The unending controversies about a wholesome diet provide much fodder for this column. An extensively researched book by the science writer Nina Teicholz (“The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet”), published in 2014, has raised serious questions about the evidence that nearly 40 years ago prompted the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs to recommend that Americans follow a diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol to curb what was then a runaway epidemic of heart and other cardiovascular diseases.