
Half of Dr. Oz’s medical advice is baseless or wrong, study says - mudil
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/19/half-of-dr-ozs-medical-advice-is-baseless-or-wrong-study-says/
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CapitalistCartr
I wonder how much of most doctors' advice is equally wrong, outdated, etc. And
how many studies are flawed; the studies that are the basis for what is right.

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capkutay
Dr Oz's incentives are different. He's a day-time television talk show pundit.
Fad diets that inspire false hope and supporting big time health/vitamin
company brands directly translate into him making tons of money. I don't think
most doctors are compensated for this type of behavior.

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dmix
True, this is similar to the classic question as to why does a top-of-their-
game baseball players make millions of dollars while top-of-their-
field-<doctors/engineers/etc> don't make a similar amount.

The reason is because their skill set reaches hundreds of thousands of people
while a doctor/engineer can only reach maybe a thousand. The rationalization
is they can reach a massive amount of people and their effect on the world is
much broader (regardless of having a higher impact).

I honest have never seen a Dr Oz show but I know he has a broad audience
therefore he should have a much much higher level of scrutiny than any other
doctor.

Regardless the OP's question is still valid, if only the goal is to improve
upon the output of the science.

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dewey
John Oliver did a segment on just that a few months ago, it's worth watching:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0wKeokWUU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0wKeokWUU)

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jlrubin
I'm just surprised half is correct.

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dangerlibrary
Most of his recommendations are probably binary (eat red meat / don't eat red
meat). Given that, 50% is what you'd expect from a random medical advice
generator.

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jlrubin
I agree, hence my comment -- I find that surprising given the bias to selling
snake oil.

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coding4all
Duh. I have parents that've been watching his show for years and I can almost
guarantee they're not anywhere close to where they need to be in terms of
health goals.

People who watch this show are the same people who drink diet soda and eat
sugar-free cookies, brownies, and let's not forget, low sodium bacon. In other
words, people who don't understand that those things aren't bad for you in
moderation...

Nothing says fucked like eating a crate of gluten-free cookies.

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aurora72
There's one great American doctor, David Perlmutter whose advices are
remarkable and in his book Brain Grain it's stated that Dr. Perlmutter serves
on the Medical Advisory Board for The Dr. Oz Show and that he appeared on
those shows several times. That's an important reference because Perlmutter is
one of my most favourite doctors.

I personally don't watch Oz's TV programs often, but in Washington Post's
article, it's underlined that "OZ's advices are not backed up by medical
science" But wait, is the medical science itself 100% reliable? Oz at least
presents the medicine in an entertaining manner and many of his viewers take
his advices with that in mind, for instance me I take his shows lightly just
as I take the unshowy doctors advices lightly. Just one video by an undoctor
called "Lemon Juice & Apple Cider Vinegar - YouTube" is more beneficial than
"medical science" to me and the quick scientific proof included.

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ChuckMcM
Is this surprising? There is lots more money to be made if you push snake oil
for the snake oil manufacturers. And hey the placebo effect will give you some
'success' either way right?

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whistlerbrk
We live in a world where doctors get kick backs from pharmaceutical companies
for prescribing their drugs, what did we expect?

Professional organizations and licensing boards need to stand up for the
integrity of their professions. Revoke his medical license and start to clean
up this system.

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k-mcgrady
>> We live in a world...

You mean, "We live in a country..."

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whistlerbrk
I thought about that, but I doubt this only happens in the US with multi-
nationals at the helm.

