Eating a lot of saturated fat makes your bad cholesterol go up.

High intake of dietary saturated fats elevates circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in humans.

Eating less saturated fat, like from butter and red meat, tends to go along with lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol in the blood.

Saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol, but mostly the 'bigger, fluffier' kind that doesn't clog arteries as much as the small, sticky kind.

Eating certain fats can change your 'bad' cholesterol — saturated fats go up a little, but monounsaturated fats go down, even if you're already healthy.

Eating more saturated fats, like those in butter and red meat, raises the bad cholesterol in your blood, which can build up as gunk in your arteries over time.