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Obama in "Excellent Health," Says Doctor

May 29, 2008 -- Sen. Barack Obama is in "excellent health," according to his primary care physician.

David T. Scheiner, MD, who has been Obama's doctor since 1987, summarizes Obama's health in a one-page letter released by the Obama campaign.

In the letter, Scheiner says that Obama "has been in excellent health" during the past 21 years and is "in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency" required of presidents.

Obama's most recent medical checkup, done on Jan. 15, 2007, was "completely normal," Scheiner writes. Details from that checkup include:

• Blood pressure: 90/60 (in the normal range)
• No excess body fat
• Total cholesterol: 173 (in the desirable range, which is below 200)
• HDL ("good") cholesterol: 68 (desirable is 60 and above)
• LDL ("bad") cholesterol: 96 (in the optimal range, which is under 100)
• Triglycerides: 44 (in the normal range, under 150)

At that checkup, Obama's EKG exam showed no heart problems. Obama got regular exercise -- often by jogging 3 miles -- and ate a balanced diet, Scheiner notes.

Obama has a family history of cancer -- his mother died of ovarian cancer and his grandfather died of prostate cancer. Obama smoked cigarettes in the past, quitting smoking on several occasions, and "is currently using Nicorette gum with success," writes Scheiner, who works at Hyde Park Associates in Medicine in Chicago.

On May 23, doctors for Sen. John McCain said the likely Republican presidential nominee appears healthy.

(Read about Obama's health care platform and more election information in WebMD's Health Matters in the 2008 Election special report.)