Eating less saturated fat can slightly lower your bad cholesterol, but that doesn’t mean you’ll live longer or have fewer heart problems unless you’re changing other parts of your diet too.

Eating less saturated fat—like butter or fatty meats—doesn’t seem to lower the risk of dying from heart problems or other causes, even after years of doing it, according to a review of nine big studies.

Cutting back on foods like butter and fatty meats doesn’t seem to make people live longer or die less from heart disease or cancer, according to studies that aren’t super strong.

If you eat less saturated fat (like butter or fatty meat) but still eat lots of white bread, sugary snacks, or refined carbs, it probably won’t make your heart any healthier or lower your risk of heart disease.

If adults eat less saturated fat, they’re probably 21% less likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other heart-related problems — but it doesn’t seem to change how long they live.

We don’t have strong enough proof to say whether eating less saturated fat makes heart attacks, strokes, or heart disease deaths more or less likely — the studies we have aren’t very reliable.