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Doctors warn Trump's weight gain is 'alarming' health marker linked to premature death
Doctors have raised serious concerns about a health marker in Donald Trump's medical records that they say is associated with premature death.
A Washington Post report published this week revealed that the president, who is 80, may have gained nearly 25 pounds since his last campaign for the White House. He weighed 238 pounds in May and gained 14 pounds between his two most recent annual checkups alone.
Two doctors who reviewed the information used the same phrase independently of each other: premature death.
What doctors are saying
Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, told the Washington Post that the weight gain is not a cosmetic issue.
"Obesity is a strong risk factor for numerous health issues," he said, "as well as premature disability and death."
David Kessler, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, was more specific about what worries him. He pointed to visceral fat, the kind that builds up around the liver, pancreas, and heart rather than sitting under the skin.
"That visceral adiposity is fat around our liver, pancreas, our heart where it doesn't belong," Kessler said, adding that it raises concerns about 'premature death'.
Visceral fat is considered more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because it is metabolically active and linked to increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and certain cancers.
At 80, with an existing diet that his own medical team has flagged as a problem, the accumulation of visceral fat around Trump's organs is exactly the kind of thing doctors look for as a predictor of serious decline.
What Trump has said about his own weight
He knows it is a problem. He has said so himself.
"The one thing I would like to do is be able to drop 15, 20 pounds," he told Mehmet Oz, the former television personality who now runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
At the White House Correspondents' Dinner last month, he joked about it in front of a room full of journalists: "I would never call anybody fat... I have my own problems, you know?"
That line drew a laugh, but it also drew a cut from NBC News, who compiled a reel of all the times he has called other people fat.
He once told Rosie O'Donnell he would look her 'right in her fat, ugly face' and say 'You're fired'.
He called Kim Kardashian's body fat on the record.
He publicly described a beauty queen as someone who 'likes to eat' after she gained weight.
He mocked a protester being removed from a rally as 'seriously overweight'.
His diet has been a talking point for years. He has publicly embraced fast food, told reporters he exercises for 'about one minute a day, max', and once said his main form of physical activity is golf, which he clarified he mostly does from a cart.
His own doctor raised concerns during his most recent physical.
His family has reportedly pushed him to change his habits. His Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said on camera that he does not understand how the president is still alive given his diet.
The wider pattern
The weight gain does not exist in isolation.
The White House was forced to explain persistent bruising on his hands earlier this year. His late-night posting patterns on Truth Social have drawn scrutiny from political commentators and medical professionals.
He was not seen in public for a full week in June without explanation. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that he had been falling asleep during meetings and requesting lighter schedules.
A frank sign of a potentially fatal health condition was also identified by doctors who reviewed photos of the president earlier this year.
He is the oldest serving president in American history. He will be 82 at the end of his term.
The 14-pound weight gain between annual checkups, on top of whatever he had gained before that, has moved the conversation from speculation about his energy levels to specific, named doctors using the words 'premature death' on the record.
What happens now
The White House has not responded to the Washington Post report.
Trump's press team has historically dismissed health concerns as politically motivated. His supporters point to his rally schedule and public appearances as proof that he is fine.
But doctors are not talking about whether he can give a speech or wave to a crowd.
They are talking about what 25 pounds of additional weight does to the organs of an 80-year-old man who eats fast food, does not exercise, and already had elevated health markers before the gain.
Two separate medical professionals looked at the same information and used the same two words. That is not political commentary. That is a clinical assessment.