WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump defended his consumption of diet soda by suggesting it might help prevent cancer, telling Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz that the drink "kills cancer cells." The 79-year-old president's remarks came during interactions with Oz, who has been part of the administration's Make America Healthy Again initiative.

"You know, this stuff's good for me – it kills cancer cells," Trump said. Oz recounted the president's reasoning in separate remarks, saying, "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 he walked into Air Force One and saw an orange soft drink identified as Fanta on Trump's desk. The president joked that Fanta could not be unhealthy because it is fresh squeezed, he said. The CMS administrator also said Trump uses a red button in the Oval Office to summon diet soda during meetings with Oz and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

There is no scientific evidence that diet soda can cure or prevent cancer. Zachary Rubin, a pediatrician specializing in immunology, said, "If Fanta is able to kill grass, then it could kill cancer cells, which means it must not be bad for you. Therefore, by the same logic, that would mean that bleach is a superfood, which we all know doesn't make any sense." Rubin also said, "Maybe that's why the president posted an AI image of himself in robes with glowing hands trying to heal somebody, because he thought that's actually what doctors do."

Most diet sodas are sweetened with aspartame, a low-calorie artificial sweetener approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has categorized aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans," a group 2B classification based on limited evidence suggesting a potential link to cancer, particularly liver cancer, in humans, as well as limited findings from animal studies.

A 2022 cohort study in France involving more than 100,000 participants found that aspartame was associated with a 15% higher risk of cancer. The study did not establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship, and the results could be influenced by factors such as participant behavior, confounding variables, or chance. Investigators at Cedars-Sinai separately reported that artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, are associated with changes in different parts of the intestine. Some research has also associated diet soda consumption with weight gain and insulin resistance.

Attempts by Kennedy and Oz to persuade Trump to change his dietary habits have been unsuccessful. Oz said the president has made a point of showing off his candy stash. The Make America Healthy Again movement, in which both Kennedy and Oz play central roles, seeks to encourage Americans to avoid processed foods and improve their dietary habits. Trump has also pushed soda companies to bring back cane sugar.