Literally hundreds of metabolic ward studies (the gold standard in nutrition) have demonstrated a direct, causal relationship between saturated fat intake and blood cholesterol levels. And the correlation between high cholesterol levels and CVD has been known for decades. Don't be fooled by observational studies which fail to disentangle the highly variable baseline individual cholesterol levels from the effects of fat in the diet.
Here is a review of 395 direct feeding experiments, which are much more appropriate for measuring the effects of diet:
Here is a review of 395 direct feeding experiments, which are much more appropriate for measuring the effects of diet:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9006469
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/circulationaha/108/22/27...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/201...
This video sums up the issues well:
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-saturated-fat-studies-s...