Doctors Say Clinton’s Health Is Excellent but Warn of Diet

President Clinton’s doctors proclaimed him in “excellent overall health” after his annual physical examination Friday but warned him to watch the quality and quantity of his eating.

Clinton, who is 6-foot-2, weighs 216 pounds, exactly the same as a year ago. His spokesman said the president and his staff were surprised that he had not gained weight “based on his gastronomic performance of yesterday and other days.”

In Milwaukee on Thursday, Clinton and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl devoured an enormous lunch at a Milwaukee diner that included six meat dishes, hash brown potatoes and apple pie.

“He was disappointed that he had not had quite as much weight loss as he has hoped for,” Press Secretary Mike McCurry said. “And he vows to be lighter at this time next year.”

Clinton turns 50 in August.

Clinton’s overall cholesterol count fell to 191 this year from 203 last year, a figure that doctors consider high but not alarming. His pulse of 55 beats a minute and blood pressure of 126/70 are considered well within the normal range.

Clinton had an actinic keratosis (a form of precancerous skin lesion usually caused by overexposure to the sun) removed from the tip of his nose with a liquid nitrogen treatment. He had several similar lesions removed a year ago.

Clinton’s physician, Dr. E. Connie Mariano, a Navy internist, supervised the three-hour exam at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

“We are very satisfied with the results of this year’s physical examination,” Mariano said in a statement issued by the White House. “The president is in excellent overall health. We recommend [that] he continue to watch his diet and follow his exercise regimen.”

Doctors found that Clinton suffers from occasional bouts of esophogeal reflux, a form of heartburn, which is treated with Prilosec, a prescription antacid.

Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Clinton’s likely opponent in the fall election, has had surgery to remove a cancerous prostate but has suffered no recurrences of cancer, according to a medical report made public last summer. Dole, 72, is 6-foot-1 and weighs 172.