President Donald Trump, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz, has joked that diet soda can kill cancer cells, a tossed-off line that drew a quick White House shrug and a more serious response from medical professionals. The story, retold by Oz on the president’s son’s podcast, ricocheted through the news cycle on Wednesday and revived scrutiny of a beverage habit Trump has defended for years.
Oz told Donald Trump Jr.'s "Triggered" podcast on Monday that the president had argued diet soda was "good for him" because it kills grass, and therefore might kill cancer cells, according to The Guardian. Oz added that Trump had once described a Fanta on his desk as "fresh-squeezed," and Trump Jr. laughed and suggested "maybe he's onto something" as they chatted about his father's energy and stamina.
At a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed the remark aside as a joke, saying, "The President has a very good sense of humor," according to Daily Voice. The administration did not offer anything resembling formal health guidance, and the comment remains in the realm of presidential banter.
Doctors Flatly Disagree
Cancer centers and clinicians moved quickly to stress that diet soda has no proven anti-cancer benefit. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center advises that "the less soda you drink, the better." The World Health Organization’s cancer arm has also classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" in a 2023 assessment, while emphasizing that the evidence is limited and does not prove causation, per IARC/WHO.
Why The Soda Line Stuck
Trump’s long-running affection for Diet Coke is well documented. He has been reported to drink as many as a dozen cans per day, a detail outlets revisited as the podcast clip spread, according to The Washington Post. Public health experts say the real concern is normalizing heavy intake of ultra-processed drinks, not whether a quip about cancer is secretly medical wisdom.
Comments from a president tend to travel faster than the fact checks that follow, and when those comments veer into health, they can warp public perception in a hurry. For now, the White House is treating this one as a punch line. Clinicians say people should stick with established guidance on diet and cancer risk, not presidential one-liners.
