President Donald Trump is a famous soda enthusiast, and his well-documented devotion to the carbonated beverage appears to stem from the belief that a can (or 12) a day can prevent cancer.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, revealed that Trump defended his massive consumption by claiming that soft drinks can kill cancer cells — because it also kills grass.
“Your dad argued that diet soda was good for him because it would kill the grass if poured on the grass, so it must kill the cancer cells inside the body,” Oz said Monday on “Activated!” by Donald Trump Jr. podcasts.
Oz then recalled his recent contact with the president.
“We were on Air Force One the other day and I walked in there because he wanted to talk about something and he had an orange soda on his desk,” Oz said. “And I said, ‘Are you kidding me!?’
“Fanta. He drinks Fanta,” Trump Jr. said. interfere.
Oz continued: “So he said, ‘You know, this is good for me. It kills cancer cells.’ He then told me it was ‘freshly squeezed, so how bad is it for you?’ ”
As both men laughed, Trump Jr. suggests that his father “might be onto something.”
Trump Jr. said: “I know many people who have turned 80 but don’t have as much energy, recall and stamina as him. “Is he just the exception that proves the rule? I’m not saying we have to regulate this but maybe there’s something there.”
The exchange comes amid concerns about Trump’s physical and cognitive health, which have been questioned by medical experts and administration critics for months.
Dr. Vin Gupta, senior medical analyst at MS NOW, said the president was showing signs of dementia after he posted an obscene threat against Iran on Easter Sunday.
“Emergetic. Unable to finish sentences. Often confused. Illogical thinking. Difficulty finding words. Develops and worsens gradually over time. The President is showing all the signs of dementia,” Gupta wrote on social media platform X.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist who treated the late Vice President Dick Cheney and is now a medical analyst for CNN, offered a similar assessment after Trump shared graphic surveillance footage of a fatal attack on his Truth Social account last weekend.
Reiner posted on
Experts like Reiner and Gupta have pointed to Trump’s rambling speeches and frequent gaffes as signs of cognitive decline — accusations he has repeatedly denied and boasted about passing multiple cognitive tests. Trump has not yet been publicly diagnosed with dementia.
The president’s physical health and diet have also come under scrutiny as he has appeared with swollen ankles and bruised hands multiple times since returning to office in January 2025.
In a wide-ranging Wall Street Journal interview in January, Trump revealed that he took more aspirin than his doctor recommended, had stopped wearing compression stockings because of swelling in his ankles, and said he regretted undergoing the advanced imaging procedure due to the scrutiny required.
White House physician Sean Barbabella, the president’s physician, said in a statement to the Journal that Trump is in “exceptional health and is fully fit to perform his duties as Commander in Chief.”
While Barbabella has given Trump a clean bill of health, even some of the president’s closest allies have expressed concerns about his enthusiasm for soda and fast food.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump, who installed a custom soft drink button on the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk, is said to drink several Diet Cokes every day.
“The interesting thing about the president is he eats really bad food, which is McDonald’s, and you know, candy and Diet Coke,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in January. “He drinks Diet Coke all the time. He has the constitution of a god. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is.”
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