The new study warns people not to believe on everything they see on “The Dr. Oz Show”.
An important research has been conducted to assess the advice given in the shows. The researchers tabbed two shows, one “The Dr. Oz Show” and “The Doctors.” the other. Surprisingly they have found that fewer than half of the recommendations given on this show have no medical evidence behind people’s so called ‘America’s Doctor’. “The Doctor” was having some better track record hitting the percentage of 63.
‘America’s Doctor’ Dr. Mehmet Oz, was criticized for proclaiming unproven weight loss pills. He was accused of promoting the green coffee bean extracts as a fat burner for which he was grilled by the Senate Committee in June. After the promotion of the product in his show, the viewers eagerly bought half a million of bottles.
Surprisingly the product was not clinically by FDA for which the Florida Company that manufactured the product was charged $3.5 million for false advertisement.
While defending himself at the hearing Oz said “My show is about hope. We’ve engaged millions in programs — including programs we did with the CDC — to get folks to realize there are different ways they can rethink their future,”
“I’ve got no problem with celebrity endorsements of any product but I do have a problem when a science-based doctor says something is a miracle when there’s no science to back it up,” committee chair Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, told CBS News’ Nancy Cordes at the time.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia and University of Alberta in Canada took 40 random episodes of “the Dr. Oz show” from early 2013.
The research found that about 39 percent recommendations were about diet in a total of 12 recommendations per episode.
The researchers have found 46 percent of the recommended advises that is followed by at least one medical literature. 39 percent were found without evidence while 15 percent were contradictory with the medical evidence.
So about one-third of the recommendations of “The Dr. Oz show” and half of the recommendations given in “The Doctors” were evidently believable.
10 percent of the recommendations were reported as harmful or having side-effects.
“Consumers should be skeptical about any recommendations provided on television medical talk shows,” the study concludes. “If the shows are perceived as providing medical information or advice, viewers need to realize that the recommendations may not be supported by higher evidence or presented with enough balanced information to adequately inform decision making.”
