Prescriber endive to cure cancerpromoter of naturopathy, homeopathy and the theory of water memory, convinced that “astrological signs can give us valuable information on our health”, a fan of the practice of Reiki in his surgical operating room… In interviews, on his website or in his show, Doctor Mehmet Oz multiplies pseudoscientific declarations. He has, however, just been named by Donald Trump to pilot the public health insurance program and in particular the “Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services”, the powerful agency responsible for programs that take care of the health of more than 150 million Americans “The United States is. plunged into a crisis of public health and there is no doctor more qualified than Dr. Oz to restore America to health,” Donald Trump said.
Is American health going straight to the wall? In any case, Donald Trump is accumulating worrying decisions, after having appointed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Junior to the post of Secretary of Health and Social Services. These two appointments normally must be approved by the Senate before being official. But the future president of the United States has already indicated want to circumvent this democratic rule. These announcements therefore caused shock waves in the American scientific and health community. Because Dr. Oz is no less controversial than “Bobby” Kennedy. This brilliant surgeon, son of Turkish immigrants now aged 64, is not only a television star, in addition to having his star on the famous “Walk of Fame” in Hollywood. He is also one of the main promoters of pseudoscience across the Atlantic.
Doctor “magic formula”
The success of Dr. Mehmet Oza two-college heart surgeon, got his start in earnest in 2001, when TV superstar Oprah Winfrey invited him as an expert on her show The Oprah Winfrey Show, one of the most followed in the United States at the time. He would make 55 appearances there through 2009, always preaching his message of telling viewers that they can “take control of their health” with simple tips and natural remedies. Oprah Winfrey even gave him the nickname “America’s doctor”, the “Doctor of the United States”, from which he registered the trademark. He then created his magazine, The Good Lifeand especially his own show the “Dr. Oz Show” which brought together up to four million daily spectators between 2009 to 2022. “Dr. Oz is undoubtedly the most influential health professional in America,” we could already read in 2015, in a portrait published by the media Vox.
On his show, Dr. Oz presented medical problems and provided solutions to them, sometimes by answering questions from his audience. He has received many celebrities, including Michelle Obama, the wife of former President Barack Obama. But he has also attracted considerable criticism from his peers for promoting false treatments or claims not based on scientific evidence. Since 2014, a dozen Canadian and American researchers have reviewed 479 recommendations provided in 40 episodes of his show. Their results, published in the scientific journal BMJindicate that 46% of the advice from Dr. Oz or his guests was not supported by evidence, 15% of them were directly contradicted by scientific studies and only 33% of the recommendations were supported. If researchers called on viewers to be extremely careful when watching his show, that did not stop Dr. Oz from continuing to promote pseudoscience and “magic” solutions.
Among them, we can note apple vinegar, of which he claims that adding a teaspoon to each meal was more effective than any other diet. The information having been denied, he then proclaimed that apple vinegar was a “detox drink” and then a skin treatment. Again without providing evidence. Many American experts have also criticized him for promoting questionable slimming products, such as green coffee bean extract, while the company that markets this product was sued by the Federal Trade Commission, an independent government agency. He was also singled out by the Senate for having promoted these slimming products, and in particular for having claimed to have “the miracle solution in a bottle to burn your fat: raspberry ketones”. One of his most controversial shows, “from gay to straight therapy”, even promotes a therapy supposed to allow homosexual people to “become” heterosexual again.
Promotion of “anti-homosexual” treatment and hydroxychloroquine
Another study published in 2014 looked at the negative impact of Dr. Oz on the general public. “The signals are clear: after the broadcast of ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ promoting neti pots [une technique de lavage du nez avec de l’eau salée potentiellement dangereuse, NDLR], sales of these pots increased by 12,000% and Internet searches on the subject increased by 42,000%, indicate the authors of the study, three professors from the “pharmacy and nutrition” department of the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). Additionally, a simple analysis of Google searches shows an explosion of the terms “raspberry ketones” and “green coffee bean extract” after episodes that discussed these products. Concerned about the popularity of Dr. Oz, researchers denounce not only the surgeon’s conflicts of interest, but also his potentially harmful advice, notably when he asserted, in one of his broadcasts, that “Everything doctors know about cholesterol is wrong”. Dr. Oz then criticized the use of statins to treat high cholesterol, a treatment that is nevertheless effective.
More recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Oz distinguished himself by promoting hydroxychloroquine, the anti-Covid-19 treatment promoted by Professor Didier Raoult. At the time, the treatment had not demonstrated its benefit and its ineffectiveness, and even its potential dangerousness, has since been demonstrated by numerous studies.
Dr. Mehmet Oz finally quit his show in 2022, when he ran as a Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania state senatorial campaign. He lost, but he stood out for his shocking proposals. He notably criticized Medicare, the health insurance system managed by the federal government of the United States for the benefit of people over 65 and the disabled. He had proposed a new law that would have forced millions of seniors out of traditional Medicare and into private health insurance plans, which he promoted on his show and in which he owns hundreds of thousands of dollars of shares. According to Oz’s own description, his plan aimed to eliminate Medicare coverage and entirely privatize the program. If he gets the job promised by Donald Trump, he will have a free hand to implement it. But also to continue to promote miracle potions and other remedies that have never proven their effectiveness.
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