Saturated fat causes heart disease

Recent studies have not consistently demonstrated a link between consumption of saturated fat and heart disease, even though this issue is still highly contested among medical professionals. Saturated fat does, in fact, raise well-known heart disease risk factors such as apolipoprotein B and LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Saturated fat consumption, however, tends to increase the amount of large, fluffy LDL particles while decreasing the amount of smaller, denser LDL particles that are associated with heart disease. But some studies have shown that certain types of saturated fat may increase heart-protective HDL cholesterol. In fact, a number of major studies have not consistently linked saturated fat consumption to heart disease, heart attacks, or deaths from heart disease. Though not all research agrees, more well-designed studies are required.