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Prostate: The candidate has no sign of prostate cancer, although doctors noted a condition known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (an enlarged prostate). The condition is very common, affecting 80 percent of men his age, and does not forecast cancer. Effect: 0.

Kidney Stones: These could be a concern, but the fact that McCain takes only two mild medications to prevent further stones indicates that his doctors aren't worried about a serious underlying condition. Effect: 0.

Colon polyps: McCain had benign growths removed during a routine colonoscopy in March. Nothing cancerous was detected. Effect: 0.

Arthritis: McCain suffers from degenerative arthritis. Roizen says that would only affect McCain's Real Age if it interfered with his ability to exercise. (Information on McCain's exercise habits was unavailable.) Effect: 0.

Smoking: A former smoker, McCain kicked the habit in 1980. Effect: One year older.

Fitness: McCain makes much of having hiked the Grand Canyon "rim to rim" in 2006. Roizen is not impressed. "Physical fitness comes and goes in about three weeks," he says. "If McCain is not continually active, it doesn't mean much." Effect: Unclear (not enough information).

Monitoring His Health: The fact that McCain goes for regular checkups is an excellent sign. His most recent comprehensive exam was in March. Effect: 2 years younger.

Bottom line: 8.1 years younger, or 63.7 years old.

But the eventual winner of the election—no matter who it is—should be forewarned. Roizen has assessed data on presidential health back to the 1920s and finds that the stress of the job takes a toll. "Every year in office, you age two years," he says. It's not hard to calculate the effect this would have on McCain. After two terms, his calendar age and Real Age would be right back in line.

© 2008

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: powin @ 05/29/2008 4:15:36 PM

    Iran has been touted as our next MILITARY target. Will McCain, HRC or Obama prevent another needless war? We need a president who will deal intelligently and with integrity with the Middle East.

    Bush has intimated that Iran is a vital threat, part of the "Axis of Evil." He wants Americans to believe that Iran, in fact, has a nuclear weapons program.

    Nuclear experts disagree with Bush.

    Gordon Prather, for instance, has clarified, "For the 2007 NIE on Iran, according to Scott Ritter, former Marine intelligence officer, UN inspector in Iraq, and author of Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change -- our intelligence community has been working closely with the IAEA inspectors in Iran.
    After thousands of man hours of go-anywhere see-anything inspections, at sites "declared" by the Iranians and at others, some military, suggested by our intelligence community, ElBaradei has declared there is ["NO INDICATION"] that Iran has a nuclear weapons program." -- Gordon Prather

    (Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.)

  • Posted By: totally-like-change-and-stuff @ 05/28/2008 2:47:11 PM

    Also, if you read my original post, I never said anything positive about Bush. He's been a disaster in a lot of ways. What I did say was that McCain would be a better president than either Bush or Obama.

    And I'll never apologize for spending time on web comment boards. This is super fun. But I do have to say bye for now. Gotta go pick up my USA cheerleader uniform from the dry cleaners. Oh, and I need to finish packing because I'm leaving the country on Friday (This is actually true... funny timing, eh? It'll be my fourth overseas trip, by the way. Not like you really care.)

  • Posted By: totally-like-change-and-stuff @ 05/28/2008 2:39:14 PM

    Dude, what's up with the personal attacks? It doesn't hurt my feelings, but it does make it hard to weed through and see just what your actual points are. I'm not going to waste anyone's time going through your insults one by one, but seriously, every single one of them is un-true. Except for under 30 one. I am under 30. But your apparent contempt for youth seems inconsistent with your support of Obama. Just sayin'...

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