New figures from the US Department of Agriculture show that Americans have dramatically lowered the percentage of fat in their diets over the last 30 years.

"The reduction is from about 45 percent of calories from fat in 1965 to about 34 percent in 1995," USDA said. That’s the good news.

Here’s the bad news. The main reason the percentage is down is because we are eating more calories overall, so those fat calories are spread over a wider area, so to speak.

"Total fat consumption expressed as a percent of caloric retake has steadily decreased since 1965," USDA said. "However, in the past five years, the decrease in percent of calories from fat is a result of increased total caloric intake and not necessarily due to decreased fat consumption."

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Kate is a senior partner with CLC, Inc.