Dr. Oz Is Dangerous!

[Solitary]

MS News


The government is forcing one of Dr. Oz's favorite supplement peddlers to pay out $9 million to consumers after making deceptive and unsubstantiated claims about weight loss products.

Several years ago, you had probably never heard of the green coffee bean supplement for weight loss. But after Dr. Oz featured the supplement on his daily talk show, it became one of the hottest weight loss wonders around.

Now, the Federal Trade Commission just announced a giant settlement with one of the supplement marketers, Dr. Lindsey Duncan as well as the companies he had a stake in, Pure Health LLC and Genesis Today, Inc.

On the Oz show, Duncan made miraculous claims: that the pills could lead to nearly 20 pounds of weight loss â€" and a reduction of 16 percent body fat â€" in 12 weeks without exercise. He said this was all backed by science. But he never mentioned his financial conflict of interest in companies that made the pills. According to the FTC:

Shortly after Duncan agreed to appear on Dr. Oz but before the show aired, he began selling the extract and tailored a marketing campaign around his appearance on the show to capitalize on the "Oz effect" â€" a phenomenon in which discussion of a product on the program causes an increase in consumer demand.

Of course, the science behind the green coffee bean supplements was dubious. One of the studies that was featured on the Oz show to tout the green coffee bean extract for weight loss has even been retracted by the study authors.
For this peddling, the FTC went after Duncan and his companies â€" and they won.

Under settlement, the FTC says, "the defendants are barred from making deceptive claims about the health benefits or efficacy of any dietary supplement or drug product, and will pay $9 million for consumer redress."

"Lindsey Duncan and his companies made millions by falsely claiming that green coffee bean supplements cause significant and rapid weight loss," said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection, in a press release.
The settlement comes amidst a series of attacks on the science behind the Oz Show, and this isn't the first time the FTC has taken down claims made on the show.

Last September, the FTC settled another $3.5-million suit against Applied Food Sciences, the company that sponsored the retracted green coffee bean study.

Last summer, senators dragged Oz up to Capitol Hill last summer to berate his bunk weight-loss prescriptions. "The scientific community is almost monolithic against you," S
en. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) admonished him.

In December, researchers writing in the British Medical Journal examined the health claims showcased on 40 randomly selected episodes of the two most popular internationally syndicated health talk shows, The Dr Oz Show and The Doctors.

What they found was disappointing but not exactly surprising: about half of the health recommendations had either no evidence behind them or they actually contradicted what the best-available science tells us. That means about half of what these TV doctors say to their millions of satellite patients is woo, and potentially harmful and wasteful woo at that.

He should have his license to practice medicine taken away! 

[Mermaid]

I am not a fan of Dr. Oz and his ilk.

[Hakurei Reimu]

And of course they'll weasel around their settlement conditions in no time flat.

[Aroura33]

These guys are the "Dr." versions of TV evangelists.  They don't care about facts, just making more money.  I'm completely unsurprised that 50% or more of what Dr. OZ says on his show is utter BS.  I

[stromboli]

I was just watching the show, watched for a few minutes yesterday. Today's guest was a spokesman for Spring Valley supplements. Yesterday was a guy pushing Zzquil, a sleep aid. Pretty clear what his agenda is. He has no credibility whatsoever.

[Sal1981]

Money, money, money.

This is what you get when there are little to no rules you have to follow on TV. But it's good that these court cases show what kind of weasels they are.

[Desdinova]

I am not a fan of Dr. Oz and his ilk.

I love the word "ilk".  Such a "woody" word!