Dr. Oz's show aired it's 1500th episode earlier this month. We didn't notice. We're guessing you didn't either.
That's because his landmark 1500th show was really a non-event.
We, like others in the scientific community, have been constant critics of the non-evidence backed "advice" that Dr. Oz has dished out through the years. In fact, a survey done in 2013 by Ranit Mishori, MD, a Professor of Family Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, showed exactly how non-scientific that advice is.
Dr. Mishori's research project assessed the accuracy of health claims and recommendations made on both “The Dr. Oz Show” and “The Doctors.” She says that the inspiration for the project came from lamenting with colleagues about what they called the “Dr. Oz phenomenon” — when patients approached the physicians with health claims made on the show. She cites examples like, “Should I eat that berry to lose weight? Will that root extract boost my immunity? Can that supplement really prevent cancer?”
The bottom line, to no one's surprise, is that the recommendations made by Dr. Oz were not evidence-based and often had no legitimate scientific literature citation to confirm his claims, frequently overlooking potential harm and high costs.
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.
Dr. Oz has been dragged through the mud, more than once. In 2015, ACSH was the driving force behind a letter written to Dr. Lee Goldman, the Dean of Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, asking that Dr. Oz be removed from the faculty there, stating that "Whatever the nature of his pathology, members of the public are being misled and endangered, which makes Dr. Oz's presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable."
Despite this and other pushback from the medical community, Dr. Oz is still standing. Not only that, but, the television doctor still has influence, taking home the 2017 Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show in 2017 - the ninth Emmy win for the show. The show has been renewed through the 2018-2019 season, which will be its tenth season.
In order to stay on the air, it seems as though the show has shifted away from health advice, what Oz does worst, and into a new and different type of garbage. Perhaps this is in response to the show's falling ratings, which hit a reported all-time low last year.
Some of the top stories on his website at the moment are:
- Oz Exclusive: B.T.K. Serial Killer Speaks Out From Prison, We’re going inside the mystery of the notorious serial killer, B.T.K. We have his letters from prison.
- Casey Anthony's Former Roommates Speak Out: In an exclusive interview, Casey Anthony’s two former roommates are opening up about the days before and after Caylee’s death...
- The Truth About the Honey Scandal: The Biggest Food Fraud the World Has Ever Seen: We investigate the hidden underworld of illegal and adulterated honey from China infiltrating the market and your kitchens.
- Hot Topics with Gayle King like, Do early birds make healthier food choices? and Is it wrong to “Netflix cheat?”
Those headlines are a long way away from the pomegranate juicing, antioxidant busting, toxin cleansing products that made the Dr. Oz brand famous almost a decade ago. Whatever direction the show is going in, we hope that it is not toward a 2,000th show.
