Shots – Health News – President Donald Trump said he takes a higher dose of daily aspirin than his doctors recommend and he has been doing so for 25 years.
The comments came in a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal published Thursday.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump, 79, told The Journal. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
The president takes 325 milligrams of daily aspirin — one “adult” over-the-counter pill. That is four times higher than the recommended 81 milligram low-dose aspirin used for cardiovascular disease prevention.
What do doctors and researchers say?
Since 2022, the nation’s leading panel of experts in disease prevention, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, has recommended anyone over 60 not start taking a daily dose of aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, if they don’t already have an underlying problem.
The group said it’s reasonable to stop preventive aspirin in people already taking it around age 75 years.
Here’s more of what you need to know about aspirin and cardiac health.
What is aspirin, and what is it used for?
Aspirin — part of the same family of drugs as ibuprofen and naproxen — at low doses reduces the production of a molecule that helps blood clots form.
The over-the-counter drug is commonly used to relieve headaches and pain in adults. It’s also used as a prophylactic medication — as in Trump’s case — in about one in seven older Americans.
The ideal dose
Experts recommend that these patients take 81 milligrams of aspirin every day to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. (The dose used to be described as a “baby aspirin,” but aspirin is no longer recommended for regular use in children.)
The low dose is often prescribed — rather than Trump’s 325 milligram dose — because there’s no benefit to taking a higher dose, according to a large study …
