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Home » Lose Weight » Why Pope Francis did Donald Trump a huge favor when they met at the Vatican – MarketWatch

This could be a blessing in disguise.

During President Trumps visit to the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope was caught on camera asking Melania Trump, What are you feeding him, potica? The First Lady replied, Pizza? Yes. Was Pope Francis inferring that the president needed to lose weight (or merely poking fun at his robust figure)? Potica is actually a sweet, nutty bread from Slovenia, the birthplace of the First Lady, and a spokeswoman for the Vatican later clarified that this was more a way of making a cultural connection than making fun because the pope happens to love potica.

Even before the pope appeared to take a pop at the president over his size, there has been widespread speculation about whether Trump is obese. The president told Mehmet Oz on The Dr. Oz Show last year that he could stand to lose up to several pounds. Trump told Oz, Yeah, I think I could lose a little weight. Ive always been a little bit this way, you know? I was probably a good swimmer If I had one thing, Id like to lose weight. Its tough because of the way I live. But the one thing I would like to do is be able to drop 15 to 20 pounds.

Obesity is a big problem in the U.S. The obesity rate will reach nearly 50% by 2030 in the U.S., the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said earlier this month. More than 38% of U.S. adults are obese, followed by Mexico where more than 32% of the adult population (aged 15 and over) are obese. The thinnest nations are Japan (with a paltry 3.7% obesity rate among adults), followed by India, Korea, Indonesia and China. Some 20% of Europeans overall are considered obese, according to the OECD, with only a 9.8% obesity rate in Italy.

Dont miss: Why Trump was right to make Chris Christie eat the White House meatloaf

Potica (since the pope brought it up) is made from a yeast dough that is stretched paper thin and filled with walnuts, honey, butter, eggs and sugar. It was first made more than 200 years ago, according to the Slovene National Benefit Society, a cultural and social organization for Slovenian immigrants and their descendants in the U.S. In those days the cakes were not prepared in earthenware baking-dishes, but directly in ovens. Even today, potica remains the pride of each housewife, it says. Pronounced pot-teet-sah, its traditionally served at Christmas and Easter.

Also see: Why no one can agree if Donald Trump is obese

The president weighs 236 pounds, according to a letter from his campaign doctor last year. If he has not put on any weight since he was elected president, that would give the president a body mass index of 29.5 for a man who is, like Trump, around 6 feet, 3 inches tall. Adults with a body mass index which calculates weight in relation to height and gender of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese. So, assuming he has not put on any weight since then, Trump narrowly misses that by a whisker.

A 2010 study in the international peer-reviewed journal, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, said obesity has grown into a major global epidemic. In the U.S., more than two-thirds of adults are overweight and one-third is obese, rates that have more than doubled since the 1970s. Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of preventable chronic diseases and health care costs in the U.S., according to The State of Obesity public health project. Estimates for these costs range from $147 billion to nearly $210 billion per year.

Absenteeism is also costly for the American economy. The annual nationwide productive costs of obesity-related absenteeism range between $3.4 billion ($79 per obese individual) and $6.4 billion ($132 per obese individual), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, worse, being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of dying prematurely and the risk increases with additional pounds, this international study led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Cambridge in the U.K. found.

The president has a history in public, at least of eating fast food. In 1995, Trump and his then-wife Ivana filmed a Pizza Hut commercial. Its wrong isnt it? he asks. Ivana replies, But it feels so right. Then they eat stuffed crust pizza, crust first. Trump also has some unusual theories about exercise and weight, and has even poked fun at people who are overweight on Twitter. In 2012, he tweeted, I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke, which led to people posting photos of the president on his plane eating McDonalds French fries and drinking Diet Coke.

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Why Pope Francis did Donald Trump a huge favor when they met at the Vatican - MarketWatch

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Home » Lose Weight » Why Pope Francis did Donald Trump a huge favor when they met at the Vatican – MarketWatch