File this under, “In case you didn’t know…”

A recent report, profiled in the Journal of Consumer Research, shows that people who restrict their food intake in the name of weight loss are more stressed and angry. The study, conducted by authors David Gal, at Northwestern University, in Chicago, and Wendy Liu at the University of California, compiled numerous weight loss studies. The authors wanted to determine if exerting self control leads to anger issues.

In the first study, participants who chose an apple over a chocolate bar for a snack were more likely to chose movies with anger issues than a more relaxed movie. The second study showed that those who were financially responsible (choosing a gift certificate for groceries rather than one for a spa service) showed more interest in looking at angry faces rather than at fearful ones.

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Home is where the heart is, but anger is where the heart attack lurks. A new report from the Medical University of South Carolina reveals that having anger issues may earn men with prehypertension a quick trip to heart disease. The same could also be true for women, but further studies are needed.

The data came from 2,334 American adults aged 48-67. They were followed for 4-8 years during the 1990s. Chronically angry men were moderately more likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart disease than their calmer counterparts.

For men and women alike, long-term psychological stress was linked to heart disease. And the results didn’t change when the researchers factored in age, sex, race, smoking status, and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.