This article was first published in聽
鈥淓at broccoli and exercise.鈥�
Those were the words that first acquainted me with Dr. Mehmet Oz sometime in 2004 when I caught a segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
He was introduced as a cardiac surgeon and gave sensible advice about the links between lifestyle and health. Although I must say that a subsequent segment in which Dr. Oz, using appropriate props, described how the state of colonic health can be determined by the shape of one鈥檚 poop seemed more like 鈥渕editainment鈥� than medicine.
I would later learn that not only was he highly regarded by colleagues as an outstanding surgeon, but Oz had also forged a career as a researcher and had even patented a device to aid the ailing heart of patients waiting for a transplant. However, as the years passed, I discovered that Dr. Oz鈥檚 sage advice was prone to infiltration by misinformation.
My first disenchantment with him surfaced in 2005, when he was interviewed as an expert on the ABC program Prime Time Live in an episode about Brazilian 鈥渉ealer鈥� Joao Teixeira, known by the name 鈥淛ohn of God.鈥�
Desperately ill people from around the world flocked to John 鈥� a farmer with no medical education 鈥� who claimed to have the ability to summon spiritual physicians to carry out 鈥渋nvisible surgery.鈥�
However, patients could also choose to have 鈥渧isible surgery鈥� that involved John inserting surgical scissors up their nose using an old carnival trick. Claims from patients about their disease vanishing abounded.
Oz had been invited to comment because a decade earlier he had launched the Cardiac Complementary Care centre at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital to study such 鈥渁lternative鈥� healing methods as reflexology, aromatherapy, prayer and therapeutic touch. Also invited was James Randi, who had a stellar reputation for investigating such claims and had found them lacking evidence.
In the green room before the show, Randi and Oz discussed John鈥檚 antics and Randi explained聽聽Yet on the show, Oz gave credence to the effect saying, 鈥淚鈥檓 wondering if touching the pituitary gland may influence all those chemicals that go between the body and the brain.鈥�
Reaching the pituitary in this fashion is impossible, Randi had explained. Although Oz did not actually claim that John had supernatural powers, he did accept that some sort of healing had occurred, commenting: 鈥淐rawfish regrow their nerves, right? Maybe there are things that we could harvest in our psyche that allows us to do it as well.鈥�
No, I don鈥檛 think we can regrow nerves with willpower.
John was a charlatan capitalizing on people鈥檚 desperation and, as we later learned, he was also a sexual predator eventually sentenced to 118 years in prison. While the producers gave coverage to Oz鈥檚 naive comments about John鈥檚 capers, Randi鈥檚 extensive interview was cut to 20 seconds.
After having witnessed ABC鈥檚 John of God fiasco, I paid more attention to Oz, especially after his 2009 anointment by Oprah as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Doctor,鈥� which spawned his own daily show.
The Dr. Oz Show became one of the most popular daytime programs, regularly watched by 4 million people. There were some very useful and interesting episodes in which Oz, using giant models, taught viewers about the intricacies of the heart and lungs and explained how clogged arteries can cause a heart attack. He punctuated this by displaying a mound of human fat harvested via liposuction and described its role in causing the plaque that builds up in arteries. All very good stuff.
Then something happened.
Five hours of network television had to be filled every week and that required more than giant models of organs and advice to exercise and eat broccoli. This is when Oz, in the words of surgical oncologist and champion of science-based medicine Dr. David Gorski,聽started his journey聽
There was ebullient praise of green coffee bean extract and raspberry ketone for weight loss: 鈥淭his little bean has scientists saying they have found a magic weight-loss cure for every body type, and, when turned into a supplement, this miracle pill can burn fat fast,鈥� Oz intoned. Apparently, it wasn鈥檛 that magical, as soon it was forgotten, only to be replaced by raspberry ketone as the 鈥淣o. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat.鈥� There is no scientific evidence for either.
But 鈥渕iracles鈥� continued fast and furious on the Dr. Oz Show.
Red onion, endives and sea bass were said to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, colloidal silver to counter symptoms of the common cold, a mixture of strawberries and baking soda to whiten teeth, selenium supplements to prevent cancer, a bar of lavender soap under the sheets to relieve restless leg syndrome, and 200 orgasms a year to extend life expectancy by six years.
All of these lack evidence, but at least the latter two are unlikely to be harmful.
When COVID threatened the world, Oz credulously promoted hydroxychloroquine, a drug that a French study later estimated played a role in the聽.
Then there were the interviews. Super misinformant Joseph Mercola was given an unopposed voice, former yoga instructor Jeffrey Smith, with zero expertise, was allowed to pontificate on the supposed dangers of genetically modified foods, and psychics talked to the dead with Oz apparently unaware of cold reading and the various tricks used by self-proclaimed mediums.
After psychic John Edward demonstrated his abilities, Oz proclaimed: 鈥淭here鈥檚 something here. It鈥檚 bizarre. I don鈥檛 know what exactly is happening. But it鈥檚 definitely something.鈥� It was something all right, but not the message from the dead that Oz believed it to be.
However, it wasn鈥檛 these crumbs of nonsense 鈥� nor his Tooth Fairy-ish promotion of reiki, the supposed transfer of energy from one person to another by hand manipulation 鈥� that finalized my disenchantment.
It was his promotion of Dr. Oz鈥檚 Homeopathic Starter Kit. Homeopathy, which claims to cure disease with non-existent molecules, is the most absurd of alternative therapies.
Why am I now dredging up Oz鈥檚 checkered history?
Because U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated him to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, endowing him with the power to influence drug price negotiations, medication coverage decisions and the Affordable Care Act. He will be working under Robert Kennedy Jr., who may become secretary of health and human services, a role for which he is unqualified and mentally unfit.
Not being a psychic, I can鈥檛 predict what kind of job Oz will do, but anyone with such an impressive history as a cardiac surgeon has to have pretty good mental machinery. I hope it hasn鈥檛 become too clogged up with his subsequent dallying with folly on the Dr. Oz Show, which required him to be more of an entertainer at the expense of sacrificing critical thinking.
Such thinking will be critical to counter the foolishness of his boss.
