Dr. Oz, what have you done?

I feel a wee bit of a rant coming on, but I’ll try to keep it under control 🙂

This week my inbox has been inundated with emails from ‘Dr.Oz-News’ and DrOz-Press Release’ among others. This week they are touting the weight loss benefits of green coffee beans, last week it was raspberry ketones.

Now if you bother to read the email you will notice that it does not come from Dr. Oz, but from some random company looking to get rich quick off of desperate people by tying their product to Dr. Oz’ popularity and reputation. I’ve heard that Dr. Oz has lawyers working overtime trying to prevent this, but the problem is that they are using his name because he did feature these products on his TV show.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Dr. Oz as much as the next person, and I think he has brought a lot of really useful information to light, both on his show and during his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, he is a cardiologist, not an expert on all things relating to health and medicine. When he began a daily talk show, he entered the ranks of those vying for the almighty ratings, and his credibility is suffering because of it.

I stopped watching The Dr. Oz show because every week there was another “Top 5” episode. The Top 5 Cancer Fighting Foods, Top 5 Weight Loss Supplements, Top 5 Belly Busters…and on and on. Now Dr. Oz, and his lawyers can preface these shows with as many disclaimers they like about him not personally recommending them, or claims have not been scientifically proven, etc. The minute he gave these people a forum to showcase their foods, juices, teas, pills etc, he was seen as promoting them, and he has no business trying to disassociate himself from them once he has moved on to the next hot ratings winner. Not to mention, as a doctor, he has no business featuring unproven supplements, foods or drinks at all. Being a doctor brings with it a much higher degree of responsibility than the average person is held accountable to, because the average person will believe everything a doctor tells them.

Seriously, if you watch Dr. Oz daily and incorporated all of these things into your daily life you would be so far from eating a healthy balanced diet….Does he not understand that there are people who are so desperate they will incorporate every single one of his suggestions into their lives? What about interactions between these disparate items?

Contrast the snake oil he promotes on the show with what he actually promotes as being responsible for his health and wellbeing in his March 2013 article in Men’s Health. Not a green coffee bean or raspberry ketone in sight! In fact, he only mentions 3 things to add to your diet: green tea, nuts, and a Vitamin D supplement.

This appears to be a case of ‘Do as I say, not as I do’, and not in a good way….

http://www.menshealth.com/health/dr-ozs-25-greatest-health-tips