The many controversies of 'The Dr. Oz Show'
Donald Trump isn't known for embracing science. He's called human-caused global warming a "hoax" and claims that vaccines cause autism -- despite overwhelming mainstream evidence to the contrary on both accounts.
So it's somehow fitting that the Republican presidential nominee would pick The Dr. Oz Show to reveal his medical records and the results of his physical check-up last week.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the show's celebrity TV host, has faced a barrage of criticism from practicing physicians, members of Congress, consumer advocates and U.S. regulators for allegedly hawking weight loss cures and miracle drugs that are founded on flimsy science.
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On Wednesday, Trump and Dr. Oz filmed a sit-down interview set to air Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. Ahead of the episode, we decided to revisit some of Dr. Oz's not-quite-finest moments.
When Congress scolded Dr. Oz for deceptive advertising
In 2014, the Senate's consumer protection panel grilled Dr. Oz about his promotion of supposed weight-loss cures like green bean coffee and raspberry ketone.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) told Oz, "I get that you do a lot of good on your show, but I don't get why you need to say this stuff because you know it's not true."
Dr. Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, insisted he believes in the supplements he touts on the show, although he acknowledged they wouldn't pass "FDA muster" as pharmaceutical drugs. He later said many of the products "don't have the scientific muster to present as fact," but that he's still comfortable promoting the weight-loss aids as short-term crutches.
When Canadian doctors fact-checked The Dr. Oz Show
A team of Canadian medical experts studied 80 episodes of The Dr. Oz Show and 80 episodes of another popular TV show, The Doctors.
More than half of Dr. Oz's recommendations had either no evidence to support his claims or were contradicted by the best available science. About 46 percent of his recommendations had sound evidence to back them up, according to the 2014 study.
The Doctors fared slightly better, with evidence supporting 63 percent of their recommendations.
"The public should be skeptical about recommendations made on medical talk shows," the researchers said in their study.
When U.S. doctors called on Columbia University to oust Dr. Oz
Along with hosting an Emmy-winning TV show, Dr. Oz is also the medical director of Columbia University's integrative medicine center.
In April 2015, a group of 10 prominent doctors from around the country called on the elite university to remove Dr. Oz from its faculty.
In a letter addressed to Dr. Lee Goldman, Columbia's dean of faculties of health sciences and medicine, the doctors accused Dr. Oz of showing "an egregious lack of integrity" by promoting "quack treatment cures in the interest of personal financial gain."
"Members of the public are being misled and endangered," the doctors claimed.
Dr. Oz defended himself and disputed accusations that he touted products that served him financially. "I bring the public information that will help them on their path to be their best selves," Oz said in a statement cited by USA Today.
When Dr. Oz confirmed his program is 'not a medical show'
In a later response to the doctors' letter, Dr. Oz told NBC News that his show is "not a medical show."
He said the show's purpose is "not to talk about medicine" but to discuss "the good life," according to the NBC interview.
When two Dr. Oz-endorsed products attracted lawsuits
Remember that green bean coffee? The weight-loss cure Dr. Oz defended in the Senate hearing?
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in June settled a lawsuit that alleged the makers of green bean coffee extract made false claims about the supplement's weight-loss benefits.
Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants -- Lindsey Duncan and his companies Genesis Today and Pure Health -- agreed to pay more than $9 million to refund consumers who purchased the product online.
Dr. Oz himself is facing a class-action lawsuit for his promotion of garcinia cambogia, a dietary supplement that supposedly aids weight loss by burning fat quicker and curbing appetite.
The lawsuit, filed in California federal court in February, claimed Dr. Oz on his TV show touted the drug as the "magic ingredient that lets you lose weight without diet or exercise."
Topics Donald Trump Elections
Maria Gallucci was a Science Reporter at Mashable. She was previously the energy and environment reporter at International Business Times; features editor of Makeshift magazine; clean economy reporter for InsideClimate News; and a correspondent in Mexico City until 2011. Maria holds degrees in journalism and Spanish from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College.
