President Donald Trump Is Now Clinically Obese, Plus What Else We Learned from His 2019 Physical
President Donald Trump's physical exam results were just made public, and they have gotten everyone's attention. While records of this year's examination are not nearly as expansive as last year's physical, we can still pull a few bits of information about Trump's current health status from what we know.
The main takeaway from the President's exam? He is now considered clinically obese.
Read on to see how Trump's latest physical compares to his 2018 results.
President Trump is now clinically obese.
Trump was instructed last year to lose 10-15 pounds by adopting a healthier diet as well as an exercise routine, according to a Washington Post article from last year.
This year's 2019 physical exam results showed that he did not follow his physician's orders. Instead, the President gained four pounds, now clocking in at 243 pounds. This caused his BMI score to move up and fall within the obesity range. Standing at 6'3", Trump's BMI is 30.4, just tipping over the preliminary obesity marker of 30.
The President's BMI was on the verge of obesity in 2018 when it was at 29.9.
While BMI isn't the best measurement to asses one's health—it does not take muscle mass into account—it does help doctors assess an individual who doesn't have much muscle density and their risk of developing chronic disease, like in a person such as Trump.
Carrying excess weight can lead to a slew of issues, most notably cardiovascular disease. Trump's BMI would improve if he cut out some of his bad eating habits, some of which include eating fried food, red meat, and fast food regularly.
His cholesterol levels went down.
The President's recent physical showed considerable improvement in his cholesterol levels. Last year, his total cholesterol was 223 mg/dL, which surpassed what's considered a healthy cholesterol range for someone his age (125-200). This year, the President's total cholesterol number of 196 mg/dL falls within the upper quadrant of what's considered healthy.
Even more notable was the drop in his LDL (low-density lipoproteins) levels, also known as the bad kind of cholesterol that's associated with clogging your arteries. Last year, his LDL levels were 143 mg/dL, which is borderline high (a range of 130-159). This year, they dropped to 122 mg/dL—a much healthier range that's considered near optimal or above optimal (a range of 100-129).
His HDL (high-density lipoproteins), or the good kind of cholesterol, actually slightly dropped as well, from 67 mg/dL to 58 mg/dL, which now sets him just beneath the desirable HDL level range of 60 or more. Not having adequate HDL cholesterol levels is associated with a higher risk of developing heart disease.
He upped his cholesterol medication.
To be clear, the primary reason President Trump's cholesterol dropped was because his doctor increased his cholesterol medication rosuvastatin (more commonly known as Crestor) to 40 milligrams per day, up from 10 milligrams last year.
According to a New York Times article, the President's doctor had hoped the increase in medication would lower Trump's LDL levels to 120 by now. Perhaps if he had made healthier changes to his diet such as cutting down his consumption of red meat, which is chock-full of cholesterol, he would've hit that goal.
His blood pressure slightly dropped.
Trump's blood pressure of 122/74 mmHg last year dropped this year to 118/80 mmHg, transitioning from what the American Heart Association classifies as an elevated range to a normal range.
In short, the President saw improvements in both his blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but he is now clinically obese. To get out of the obesity range and the slew of health problems that carrying extra weight can bring, he could benefit from losing weight through eating healthier foods and integrating exercise into his life, like his doctor suggested last year.
