Dr. Oz Goes to the White House

By Julianna LeMieux — May 07, 2018

In a move steeped in nonsense, Dr. Mehmet Oz has been appointed by Donald Trump to the President's Council on Sport, Fitness and Nutrition. Since his views on health and medicine are so lacking in scientific evidence, we have no idea why anyone is still listening to him at all anymore.

Dr. Oz

The news that Dr. Oz has been appointed by the President to the President's Council on Sport, Fitness, and Nutrition (PCSFN) shouldn't surprise us. Not after President Trump went on The Dr. Oz Show to "discuss" his physical. Or, after President Trump met with Robert Kennedy Jr. (well known for his anti-vaccine stance) to talk about vaccines.

But, the appointment of Dr. Oz to any position where an expertise in health, fitness or medicine is important does still take me by surprise. Why? Because, at this point, his views on health are so lacking in scientific evidence, that I am not sure why anyone is listening to him at all anymore.

But, rest assured, people are listening - not just the President. In fact, his show is doing incredibly well. Not only did The Dr. Oz Show win its 10th Daytime Emmy this year, taking home the prize for Outstanding Informative Talk Show just a few weeks ago. The show has also been renewed for season 11 and 12 (through the 2020-2021 season) insuring that we have at least two more years of the pomegranate juicing, antioxidant busting, toxin cleansing message that made the Dr. Oz brand famous almost a decade ago.

But, his TV show has shifted away from being about health or medicine (even fake remedies and snake oil don't make as many appearances anymore) and towards crime drama. For example, some recent appearances have been Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus who were kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured for 10 years in Cleveland, Ohio and an investigation into the mysterious death of stay-at-home mom, Kat West. On his show this week, he's hosting Kaylee Muthart, who gouged out her own eyes while high on meth. Oh, and also, on the same episode, "what’s lurking in your latte?" Because, scare mongering coffee while hearing about serial killers is what the Dr. Oz show has become.

And, now, the person at the head of all of this is going to be part of our government's efforts to promote programs that encourage people to live more healthy lifestyles. The council, which has been in existence since 1956 and is run by the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "engages, educates and empowers all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition."

Not long ago, we wrote an article on the airing of Dr. Oz's 1500th show. In it, we wrote that the "The bad news is that Dr. Oz is still not promoting science-based medicine. The worse news is that he is still on the air." We can now say with confidence that the worst is yet to come.

Notes:

Other members to be named to the council.