Always loved butter and hated margarine. I often used to gross people out with how much butter I'd put on potatoes or bread to the point where I'd only use the amount I wanted to in private. It's great today to know that I was right to like it.
Butter has been eaten everyday by people who died from cholesterol and by people who lived for 100+ years.
Nothing we eat is inherently bad. It’s the mix and proportions that can be bad. The real issue is that with industrial food, we don’t control (or even feel) the mix anymore.
In France, in « Bretagne », butter and fat is everywhere in the traditional food since centuries and that never caused the same issues as industrial food. Because when you know what you eat, you eat the right proportions.
There are some exceptions but even then (ward experiments, controlled feeding studies, etc.) you often have very low number os participants and other limitations.