Doctor’s Orders: Nov. 7, 2005

DON’T WORRY, GET ANGRY! Sometimes it pays to get mad. In a small study published in Biological Psychiatry, subjects who made angry facial expressions in stressful situations–like having to count quickly back from 6,233 by 13–had smaller blood-pressure spikes and lower levels of stress hormones than those who responded with expressions of fear.

180,000 Number of hepatitis A infections that could be prevented each year in the U.S. with child vaccinations, according to a CDC advisory panel that unanimously recommended routine vaccination of all 1- and 2-year-olds.

GETTING THE SKINNY AT MICKEY D’S Ever wonder how many calories are in a Big Mac? In a new effort to cast itself as a health-conscious company, McDonald’s has promised to put nutritional information–calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates–right on the packaging of all its products. The new wrappers will arrive in early 2006. And that Big Mac? It has 560 calories and 30 g of fat.

TOO MUCH TV TURNS YOUR TUSH TO MUSH Two studies in the Journal of Pediatrics put hard numbers on the risks associated with watching more than the recommended maximum of two hours of TV a day. In one study, every extra hour of weekend TV at age 5 increased by 7% the chances of being obese at age 30. In a second study, 11-year-old girls who watched more than two hours a day were more than twice as likely to be overweight as girls who tuned in less.