Eating more butter — even just a little more — might raise your risk of heart disease a bit compared to getting the same kind of fat from other foods like cheese or fish.

Eating saturated fat doesn’t always raise your risk of heart disease—it depends on where the fat comes from. For example, saturated fat in dairy and nuts might not hurt your heart, and could even be okay or helpful.

Not all saturated fats are the same—those in cheese and butter might not hurt your heart, and could even help, but the ones in bacon and sausages might make your heart risk higher.

For people who already have heart disease, eating foods high in saturated fats—like butter or red meat—doesn’t seem to make their chances of having a heart attack or dying any higher or lower.

Eating foods with saturated fat, like butter or meat, doesn't seem to raise your risk of heart disease or dying from it, based on the studies reviewed.

People who eat cheese with saturated fat might actually have a slightly lower risk of heart disease, which is surprising because saturated fat is usually thought to be bad for the heart.