For me personally there's a very clear link between saturated fat and blood serum LDL and triglycerides: I had very high levels of both despite exercising regul

For me personally there's a very clear link between saturated fat and blood serum LDL and triglycerides: I had very high levels of both despite exercising regularly, switched to a low saturated fat diet with minimal other changes, and my LDL and triglycerides dropped enormously and are now in the "good" range. I don't know enough to know whether cholesterol actually increases heart disease risk, but for me personally there's a clear diet link between saturated fat and LDL cholesterol + triglycerides. YMMV! I suppose something else in the high saturated fat diet could have been causing the problem, but it certainly seems like a good proxy metric for me at least.