President Donald Trump is a noted soda aficionado, and his well-documented devotion to the bubbly beverages is apparently rooted in the belief that a can (or 12) a day could keep cancer at bay.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, revealed that Trump defends his massive intake by claiming that soda can kill cancer cells—because it also kills grass.
“Your dad argues that diet soda is good for him because it kills grass if poured on grass, so therefore it must kill cancer cells inside the body,” Oz said Monday on Donald Trump Jr.’s “Triggered!” podcast.
Oz then recalled a recent interaction with the president.
“We were on Air Force One the other day and I walk in there because he wanted to talk about something and he’s got an orange soft drink on his desk,” Oz said. “And I say, ‘Are you kidding me!?’
“Fanta. He drinks Fanta,” Trump Jr. interjected.
Oz continued: “So he goes, ‘You know, this stuff’s good for me. It kills cancer cells.’ Then he tells me it’s ‘fresh squeezed, so how bad could it be for you?’ ”
As both men laughed, Trump Jr. suggested his father “may be onto something.”
“I know a lot of guys pushing 80 and not a lot having his level of energy, recall, stamina,” Trump Jr. said. “Is he just the exception that proves the rule? I’m not saying we gotta adapt this but maybe there’s something there.”
The exchange came amid ongoing concerns about Trump’s physical and cognitive health, which has been called into question by health professionals and administration critics over the past several months.
Dr. Vin Gupta, a senior medical analyst at MS NOW, suggested that the president is showing signs of dementia after he posted a profanity-laced threat to Iran on Easter Sunday.
“Erratic. Can’t finish sentences. Often confused. Illogical train of thought. Word finding difficulties. Developing and worsening gradually over time. The President is exhibiting all the signs of dementia,” Gupta wrote on social media platform X.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist who treated late former Vice President Dick Cheney and now serves as a CNN medical analyst, offered a similar assessment after Trump shared graphic surveillance footage of a fatal attack on his Truth Social account last weekend.
“Now he posts a video of a woman being beaten to death,” Reiner posted on X. “To put it mildly, that’s concerning behavior. If he was a member of your family you would urge him to see a doctor. He should have a medical evaluation.”
Experts like Reiner and Gupta have pointed to Trump’s rambling speeches and frequent gaffes as signs of cognitive decline — accusations he has repeatedly dismissed, boasting about passing multiple cognitive tests. Trump has not been publicly diagnosed with dementia.
The president’s physical health and diet have also drawn scrutiny as he has appeared with swollen ankles and bruised hands several times since returning to office in January 2025.
In a wide-ranging Wall Street Journal interview in January, Trump revealed he takes more aspirin than his doctors recommend, has stopped wearing compression socks for swollen ankles and said he regrets undergoing advanced imaging given the scrutiny it invited.
White House physician Sean Barbabella, the president’s doctor, said in the statement to the Journal that Trump is in “exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute 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 raised concerns over his enthusiasm for soda and fast food.
Trump, who had an on-demand soda button installed on the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk, reportedly drinks multiple Diet Cokes every day, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“The interesting thing about the president is that 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 the Diet Coke at all times. He has the constitution of a deity. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is.”
Tracking the Trump Administration
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