Does Obama need cholesterol drugs?

When President Obama's recent physical exam revealed that he had elevated cholesterol levels, the editors of Consumer Reports wondered: Does the president need to take a drug to lower his cholesterol?

To answer that question, they used a handy calculator from the National Cholesterol Education Program to determine his 10-year risk of heart attack. They plugged in his figures from the White House's announcement about his exam results:

-- Age: 48

-- Gender: Male

-- Total cholesterol: 209 mg/dL

-- HDL cholesterol: 62 mg/dL

-- Smoker: Yes*

-- Systolic blood pressure: 105 mm/Hg

-- On medication for high blood pressure: No

* For this calculator, you are considered a smoker if you light up just once during the previous month. Although the president has said he quit smoking, he also occasionally falls off the wagon. Thus, it was assumed that he had done so in the past month.

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The calculator said Obama has a 10-year risk of heart attack of 7 percent.