Donald Trump is taking more daily aspirin than doctors recommend. Is this safe?

US President Donald Trump’s health

US President Donald Trump’s health is increasingly coming under the spotlight. The 79-year-old is the second-oldest person, after his predecessor Joe Biden, to serve in the Oval Office.

Much has been made about the health of Trump, who returned to the presidency in January 2025, after he was seen with bruising on his hands. Trump, who has also been seen nodding off in meetings and has had swollen ankles, also had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test in October, the results of which he claimed were “perfect”.

By the end of his term, Trump will be the oldest sitting commander-in-chief. Now, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump has claimed he is taking more aspirin than his doctors prescribe. But why is he doing so? Is this a safe practice?

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Let’s take a closer look.

What Trump said

First, let’s take a look at what Trump said during the interview. Trump used the interview to push back against any claims that he is in poor health. “Let’s talk about health again for the 25th time. My health is perfect,” the president said.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he takes a higher amount of aspirin than doctors recommend. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump said. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”

The president’s doctor, Sean Barbabella, told the newspaper that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin daily for “cardiac prevention”.

Trump said doctors have been telling him to take a lower dose for years, but he has turned them down. “I’m a little superstitious,” Trump said.

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He also blamed the aspirin for the bruising on his hands. “I take the larger one, but I’ve done it for years, and what it does do is it causes bruising,” Trump was quoted as saying. The White House has said that Trump’s hands are bruised from shaking many hands.

Trump recalled how now–Attorney General Pam Bondi accidentally caused his hand to bleed after her ring caught it as they high-fived at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “The ring hit the back of my hand, and, yes, there was a slight little cut.” He said he now wears makeup on his hands if he is “whacked again by someone”.

Trump also said he was not one for exercise. “To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me,” he said. He said he had tried using compression socks for his swelling but stopped as he “did not like them”. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump has a penchant for salty and fast food and does not exercise. He claimed exercise that is not golf is “boring”.

Trump also claimed he was not nodding off at events but was simply closing his eyes or blinking when he is photographed. “I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to me. Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”

He said he is “never a big sleeper” but added that he had asked staff to shift around events based on efficiency.

Asked about his hearing, Trump joked, “I can’t hear you. I can’t hear you. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” However, he admitted that he can struggle “when there’s a lot of people talking”.

Trump also said he was not much of a sleeper. He said genetics play a very important part in health. “Genetics are very important. And I have very good genetics,” he said, referring to his parents, who he claimed remained active and lively in their older years.

He also spoke about the MRI he underwent in October. “In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” he told the newspaper. “I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing’s wrong.”

Trump claimed that he had a CT scan in October. “It wasn’t an MRI,” Trump said. “It was less than that. It was a scan.” Barbabella also told the newspaper that the president actually got a CT scan.

Barbabella said Trump’s doctors had initially said they would perform either an MRI or a CT scan but decided to do the latter “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues”.

Is this a safe practice? What do experts say?

According to the Mayo Clinic, a low dose of aspirin “can help prevent heart attack or stroke”. This can be anywhere between 75 and 100 milligrams. The recommended dosage is usually around 81 milligrams. The Mayo Clinic says the daily dose “is usually between” 75 and 325 milligrams for those on aspirin therapy.

Aspirin, which most people take to relieve a headache, has long been known for its blood-thinning properties. While experts say this can prevent clots from forming, it can also result in excessive bleeding. Doctors in recent years have stopped recommending daily aspirin for adults. Some have stopped aspirin therapy completely when patients enter their 70s.

Dr Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, expressed concern about the development.

“It’s uncommon to see that kind of bruising with one aspirin a day,” Reiner, who was a long-time cardiologist for former vice-president Dick Cheney, said. “My question is, ‘Does the president take any medications that have not been disclosed by the White House?’”

“Aspirin has been studied in varied doses, and the reason why 81 milligrams is given to people is that’s the dose which appears to have the best combination of protection from clotting events and bleeding caused by the drug,” Reiner said. “In other words, 325 milligrams increases the bleeding risk but doesn’t increase the efficacy. So we never use that.”

“The big issue here is transparency. All of these issues just highlight how opaque the White House has been about the president’s health,” Reiner added.

Reiner added that Trump’s theory about having thin blood makes “no sense”. “That makes no sense,” Reiner told CNN. “That actually makes nonsense. It’s not like changing something from gumbo to chicken soup. It doesn’t make it thinner. It makes you less likely to clot.”

“Why is the president taking an unorthodox dose of aspirin?” Reiner asked. “And the media has published many photos of his right hand — and now maybe his left hand — with this chronic bruise. The White House has said that this is related to chronic aspirin therapy. So if you’re bruising a lot and your doctor says you’re on too much aspirin, why wouldn’t you go down to the lower dose? It makes no sense to me.”

However, the White House remains unmoved.

Barbabella has said that Trump is in “exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander-in-Chief”.

“President Trump’s medical evaluations and laboratory results continue to show excellent metabolic health and have revealed his cardiovascular health puts him 14 years younger than his age. Overall, the President remains in exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief,” he said in a statement.

With inputs from agencies