For middle-aged women in the US, how quickly carbs raise blood sugar (glycemic index) might be a better clue about heart disease risk than just whether the carbs are 'simple' or 'complex'.

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.

Eating more carbs each day might raise your risk of heart disease — for every extra 50 grams of carbs (about the amount in a large potato or a big slice of bread), your risk goes up by 11%, even if those carbs don’t spike your blood sugar much.

People in China who eat a lot of carbs that spike their blood sugar quickly are much more likely to develop heart disease compared to those who eat fewer of these carbs.

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.

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.