Before the age of medical doctors and precise pharmaceuticals, people turned to the aid of medicine men, tribal councils and even shaman to heal all sorts of ailments. Herbal remedies were prescribed, and more often than not, the symptoms would disappear, or the person whose ailments would escalate would disappear too with the problem. But do you know who they never asked for help? Television personalities-not even those with medical degrees.
So the question arises: why would Americans, who all now have healthcare courtesy of new legislation, put their health and well-being in a doctor they view on their tv screens everyday? Well as it so happens, real-world doctors questioning the efficacy of "The Dr. Oz Show" have looked into the case of Dr. Mehmet Oz and found that less than one-third of the claims on his show are backed by substantial medical evidence. And even more alarming is that nearly 4 in 10 assertions made on the nationally-acclaimed series are made on the basis of no evidence at all.
Publishing the results of their study this week in the journal BMJ (BioMedicalJournal), the researchers took it upon themselves to fact-check the Dr. and also had his on-air guests search out legitimate studies to back the recommendations made on the show.
"Consumers should be skeptical about any recommendations provided on television medical talk shows" lead researcher of the study, Christina Korownyk says. "Viewers need to realize that the recommendations may not be supported by higher evidence or presented with enough balanced information to adequately inform decision making."
Looking into the not only the medical information being delivered, but also the tactical, borderline lying of the sensationalized advertising, the US Senate subcommittee for the Center for Inquiry accused Dr. Oz earlier this year of being a "snake oil salesman". But he's not the only one dishing out lies. A Canadian research team of accredited physicians also looked into the show "The Doctors", which reaches an average of 2.3 million television viewers each day, and found that while "The Dr. Oz Show" is rife with recommendations that others are also nearly just as bad. While "The Dr. Oz Show" averaged 12 recommendations per episode, "The Doctors" averaged 11. But as it so happens, "The Doctors" suggestions proved to be significantly more credible.
Though the doctors questioned in the study could not be reached to comment, the study reveals the dangers behind trusting the medical advice of television personalities. And while some proved to be genuine, factually-based advice important for overall health, more than 10 percent of all recommendations were contrary to research and even more were based primarily on information disclosed by sponsors of the show.
