Eating more fiber doesn’t change whether foods that spike your blood sugar increase your risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older Swedish women.

Eating foods that raise blood sugar quickly doesn’t seem to increase the risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older Swedish women, based on a study that found no clear link between the two.

For middle-aged and older Swedish women, eating foods that raise blood sugar quickly doesn’t seem to affect heart failure risk any more for overweight women than for women who are normal weight — the risk is about the same in both groups.

In older Swedish women, eating lots of foods that spike blood sugar might be linked to more heart failure hospitalizations or deaths, but the evidence isn’t strong enough to be sure.

Women in their 40s to 60s who eat a lot of foods that spike blood sugar quickly—like white bread, sugary snacks, and refined carbs—are more likely to develop heart disease than those who eat fewer of these foods, with the biggest eaters having almost twice the risk.

For middle-aged women in the US, how sugary or starchy your food is overall (glycemic load) matters more for heart disease risk than just how much carbs you eat.