President Donald Trump's own doctor pronounced him in excellent health this year, yet the same report told the 80-year-old to lose weight and take low-dose aspirin, advice he has publicly rejected in favour of a dose four times as strong.
A Clean Bill of Health With Caveats
The verdict came in late May. Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, the White House physician, wrote that Trump 'remains in excellent health' with strong cardiac, pulmonary, and neurological function, and declared him fully fit to serve as commander in chief.
The numbers told a more complicated story. The report listed Trump at 6 ft 3 in (190.5 cm) and 238 pounds (108 kg) , a 14-pound (6.35 kg) gain since his April 2025 exam. That put his body mass index at 29.7, at the top of the 'overweight' band and a fraction below the obesity threshold of 30. In the same document, Barbabella recommended a better diet, more physical activity, continued weight loss, and a daily low-dose aspirin.
Independent physicians who read the memo flagged what it left out. There was no explanation for the president's visible hand bruising and no discussion of how his aspirin habit squares with current guidance.
The Aspirin the President Won't Give Up
That habit is where the sharpest tension sits. Trump has said repeatedly that he takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day, four times the 81-milligram 'baby' dose most commonly used for heart protection. Barbabella has confirmed the president takes the higher amount for cardiac prevention.
Trump has also said his doctors want him to cut back, and that he refuses. 'They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don't want thick blood pouring through my heart,' he told the Wall Street Journal, adding that he wants 'nice, thin blood' and has taken the drug for roughly 25 years without a heart attack.
So the president's own May report recommended the low dose. The president, on the record, prefers the high one. It is a patient-versus-doctor standoff playing out in public, involving the most scrutinised 80-year-old in the country.
What the Guidelines Actually Say
The medical consensus leans hard against him. The US Preventive Services Task Force, the independent panel that sets prevention guidelines, advises against starting daily aspirin for heart-disease prevention in adults aged 60 and older, advice aimed at the 81-milligram dose, let alone 325.
Cardiologists add that the bigger pill buys no extra protection. Studies have found the low dose works just as well at preventing the clots behind most heart attacks and strokes, while the higher dose raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. Trump, who is on two cholesterol medications, fits the profile doctors worry about.
Why It Matters for Everyone Else
Millions of older Americans still swallow a daily aspirin out of habit, many at doses their doctors no longer endorse. Trump's very public defence of his routine, doctors warn, can muddy that message.
The practical takeaway is simple. Aspirin is no longer a blanket recommendation, and dose matters. Anyone taking it to prevent a first heart attack, rather than after one, should ask their physician whether they still need it at all, and if so, how much.
For now, the president is keeping his pill. His own report suggests he probably shouldn't.
