Over the past several decades, public health experts and physicians have pinned a hefty portion of the blame for heart disease on saturated fat. That’s not without reason. The long-chain saturated fatty acids found in foods like steak, butter, and coconut oil raise artery-clogging low–density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, a cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. At the same time, diets high in red meat have been strongly associated with heart disease and mortality.