Donald Trump's former doctor claims he used to hide vegetables in the US president's food in a failed attempt to help him shed some fat.

Physician Dr Ronny Jackson said he would put cauliflower in Mr Trump's mashed potatoes and wanted to introduce an exercise bike or elliptical machines at the White House.

He and his team also made the ice cream "less accessible" in a bid to help his former boss shed up to 15 pounds, but the president apparently considered a round of golf was all he needed to counter his diet.

The doctor – who is now running to be a Republican congressman – told the New York Times failing to properly get Mr Trump on board with this health and implement a lasting regime was his biggest regret and leaving his post.

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"The exercise stuff never took off as much as I wanted it to," he explained. "But we were working on his diet.

"We were making the ice cream less accessible, we were putting cauliflower into the mashed potatoes."

He had asked for a cognitive test to be included in Mr Trump's first medical examination following his victory over Hilary Clinton in 2017.

At the time, Dr Jackson said: "I feel very confident that he has a very strong and a very probable possibility of making it completely through his presidency with no medical issues."

The president often posts photos on social media eating junk food, including KFC chicken and McDonald's hamburgers – and is said to drink 12 cans of Diet Coke, while watching up to eight hours of television per day.

When asked how a man whose diet appears so poor could be in good health, the doctor had claimed Mr Trump just has good genetics.

"It's called genetics," he said. "Some people have great genes."

He claimed if Mr Trump had eaten better over the last two decades, "he might live to be 200 years old".

After his first presidential check up, Mr Trump was said to be in "excellent shape" for an American man of his then 70 years, with a good cardiac assessment.

This is despite his height and weight – 6ft 3in and 239lbs – meaning he had a BMI that puts him dangerously close to being obese.

President Trump does, however, take medication in a bid to lower his high cholesterol level of 233, as well as daily hair loss pills.

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