Obama: 'Fit For Duty' And Smoker No More
A relaxed and fit President Obama meets with senior advisers at the White House in early July.
Pete Souza/The White House hide caption
A relaxed and fit President Obama meets with senior advisers at the White House in early July.
Pete Souza/The White HouseAll middle-aged men should be so healthy.
A summary of the results from President Obama's latest physical were released yesterday, and he's looking good. Very good.
Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, the president's doctor, declared him "fit for duty."
The big news is that Obama's not smoking anymore. Quitting was a top priority at the time of his last checkup. Kuhlman said he's now "tobacco free." Obama, 50, had been using "nicotine replacement therapy" to help, according to the public report on his last physical released in Feb. 2010.
Obama's latest cholesterol numbers would be the envy of most American men his age. Kuhlman calls them "ideal," in fact. Obama's total cholesterol is 193, down from 209 seen at his last physical. His LDL, or bad cholesterol, is 110, well below the target of 130 or lower his doctor recommended in 2010.
The president isn't taking any cholesterol pills.
He's up to date on his vaccines, including his flu shot. He sometimes takes nonsteroidal antinflammatory medicines after strenuous exercise. And when traveling to places where malaria lurks, Obama takes pills to cut the risk of infection. But that's it as far as medicine goes.
So neither Big Pharma nor the generics industry is getting much traction in the presidential medicine cabinet.