Recent studies suggest that vegetable fats are not better than animal fats for reducing heart disease, and may be worse!

If you mean the one reported in the last few days, that's not what it implies. It was a comparison of dairy fat and high-omega-6 corn oil, which has been known to be pro-inflammatory for years. (I've been avoiding the stuff for more than 10 years because I am prone to auto-immune inflammatory skin conditions). The fact that it causes heart disease should have been no surprise to anyone.

A different way to spin the conclusion would be "corn oil kills you even faster than butter". The study didn't draw any similarly negative conclusions about vegetable oils with less omega-6, like grapeseed, peanut or rape.