The link between saturated fats and heart health was based on faulty science & has been disproven. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization. Through their direct effects on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease & diabetes.

Transfats are man made chemically altered hydrogenated oils (usually polyunsaturated oils). This converts a fairly benign oil into a toxin that should be banned from our food supply. Transfats were created to replace saturated fats in our food supply but should not be confused with saturated fats.

Plaque build up in the arteries are more attributable to carb consumption than dietary fats, which seems to be the conclusion of the following study. Carb consumption raises triglycerides & VLDL (bad cholesterol). Fats raise the HDL (good cholesterol). High triglyceride levels & low HDL levels are an indicator of plaque, glycation - the precursors to a heart attack and heart disease.

study from the Oxford group examining the postprandial (after-eating) effects of a low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet. (Roberts R et al, 2008)

Postprandial lipoproteins, you’d think, would be plentiful after ingesting a large quantity of fat, since fat must be absorbed via chylomicrons into the bloodstream. But it’s carbohydrates that figure most prominently in determining the pattern and magnitude of postprandial triglycerides and lipoproteins. Much of this effect develops by way of de novo lipogenesis, the generation of new lipoproteins like VLDL after carbohydrate ingestion.

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/after-eating-effects-carbohydrates-vs.html

SEVEN REASONS TO EAT MORE SATURATED FAT -

1) Improved cardiovascular risk factors

Saturated fat in the diet reduces the levels of lipoprotein (a) abbreviated Lp(a)—that correlates strongly with risk for heart disease. The only dietary means of lowering Lp(a) is eating saturated fat. Eating fats raises the level of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol.

2) Stronger bones

Saturated fat is required for calcium to be incorporated into bone - According to expert in human health, Mary Enig, Ph.D., as much as 50 percent of the fats in the diet should be saturated fats.

3) Improved liver health
Studies show that saturated fat encourages the liver cells to dump fat content. Saturated fat has been shown to protect the liver from the toxic insults of alcohol & medications and even to reverse the damage.

4) Healthy lungs

For proper function, the airspaces of the lungs have to be coated with a thin layer of lung surfactant. The fat content of lung surfactant is 100 percent saturated fatty acids. Replacement of these critical fats by other types of fat makes faulty surfactant & potentially causes breathing difficulties, collapse of the airspaces & respiratory distress. Some researchers feel that the substitution of (trans) fats for naturally saturated fats in commercial foods may be playing a role in the rise of asthma among children.

5) Healthy brain

Your brain is mainly made of fat & cholesterol. Though highly unsaturated essential fatty acids found in cold-water fish (EPA & DHA) are important for brain & nerve function, most of the fatty acids in the brain are actually saturated. The brain needs saturated fats to function optimally.

6) Proper nerve signaling

Certain saturated fats, found in butter, lard, coconut oil, & palm oil, function directly as signaling messengers that influence the metabolism. Without the correct signals to tell the organs & glands what to do, the job gets done improperly.

7) Strong immune system

Saturated fats found in butter & coconut oil (myristic acid & lauric acid) play key roles in immune health. Loss of sufficient saturated fatty acids in the white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize & destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, & fungi. Myristic & lauric acid have potent germ-killing ability. We need dietary replenishment of them to keep the immune system vigilant against the development of cancerous cells & infectious invaders.
References :
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/06/06/saturated-fat/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Robert H. Lustig, MD at min.mark 36-40 explains cholesterol

http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2010/01/15/two-major-studies-conclude-that-saturated-fat-does-not-cause-heart-disease/

FINALLY they admit - no difference in the risk of heart disease even with highest intake of saturated fat & eggs are a superfood & have no effect on cholesterol

http://blogs.webmd.com/heart-disease/2010/03/low-fat-diet-trojan-horse-of-heart.html

Saturated fat from the diet does NOT contribute to high cholesterol, if the saturated fat is a natural product. Your daughter’s total cholesterol numbers should be in the range of 240 to 270. Did the cholesterol test you are using to base the numbers on include a break down of the LDL numbers into the pattern A and pattern B? If not, you need to get those numbers before jumping to conclusions the cholesterol numbers are good or bad.

Coconut is one of the best foods you can eat. It is 92% saturated fats. Please know that ALL FATS IN NATURE are made up of the three categories of fat: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids along with a glycerol molecule. Coconut has about 50% lauric acid in it that nourishes the thyroid gland. It has about 8% caprylic acid and 7% capric acid. These fatty acids contribute to anti-bacterial, anti-vital, and anti-fungal qualities.

Only about 15% of the cholesterol in your body comes from the diet. The rest is made by your liver. ALL of your steroid hormones are made from cholesterol. Cholesterol is NOT a FAT ! ! ! It is a form of an alcohol with a fatty acid coupling capability that transports fatty acids through the body.

Cholesterol is the basis for ALL those steroid hormones and bile.

Avoiding saturated fat is a stupid idea that drug companies have promoted to increase sales of their stupid statin drugs that are damaging people everywhere. Eating coconut oil is not going to have an effect on the cholesterol because your liver makes that determination based on infections in the body. If you reduce cholesterol in your diet, your liver just makes more to compensate.

The oils to avoid are: Soybean, Canola, Cottonseed, Corn oils! ! ! The proper amount of oils to eat are: 60% monounsaturated (olive oil); 30% saturated fats from real butter made from cows that eat grass and is unpasteurized and coconut oils; 10% polyunsaturated fats from nuts and seeds - like flax seeds, etc., not bottled oil.

good luck to you
References :
Certified Nutritional Therapist
B.A. biology & chemistry
QRA Practitioner, Author
Advanced nutritional research