Eating more or less of different kinds of fats—like butter, olive oil, or vegetable oil—doesn’t seem to change your risk of heart disease, no matter what you eat instead of them. What matters more might be where the fat comes from, like whether it’s in cheese, nuts, or fried food.

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 rich in monounsaturated fats, like olive oil or avocados, doesn't seem to make heart disease risk higher or lower based on this analysis.

Eating more saturated fat—like in butter or red meat—doesn’t seem to make people more likely to get heart disease, based on this big review of studies.

If you swap out a little bit of butter and fatty meats for healthier fats like nuts and fish oil, you’re less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease — it’s not about eating less fat, but choosing better kinds of fat.

If you swap out a little bit of butter or fatty meat for foods like nuts or vegetable oils, you're less likely to have a heart attack or die from heart disease.