Eating less sugary, processed carbs and more healthy fats like those in nuts and olive oil might help lower your risk of heart disease, especially if you're older, female, not very active, or overweight.

Eating too many sugary, processed carbs and not enough good fats might make your body less responsive to insulin and mess up your cholesterol levels, which could raise your chance of heart disease—especially if you're older, female, don't move much, or are overweight.

If you swap out foods like butter and cheese for sugary snacks and white bread, it might make your heart health worse by raising bad fats in your blood, lowering good cholesterol, and making your body less sensitive to insulin—which could raise your chance of having a heart attack.

People who are older, women, don’t move much, or are overweight might be more likely to have bad health effects from eating lots of white bread, sugar, and pastries — and that could mean a higher chance of heart disease than for healthier people.

Cutting down on all fats in your diet—no matter what kind of carbs you eat—won’t make you any less likely to get heart disease over eight years.

If you swap out fats in your diet—like butter or oil—for sugary white bread, pasta, or pastries, it won’t lower your risk of heart disease, and it might even make it worse if you’re prone to blood sugar problems.