Surgeon Mehmet Oz, better known as Doctor Oz, has been questioned by US lawmakers for hyping dubious weight-loss products to naive consumers on his popular TV show.
He was put before members of a senate panel on Tuesday, who questioned him about spruiking certain weight-loss products as “a magic weight-loss cure” and “the No. 1 miracle in a bottle”.
“I don’t get why you say this stuff because you know it’s not true,” Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who sat on the panel, said.
“So why, when you have this amazing megaphone and this amazing ability to communicate, would you cheapen your show by saying things like that?”
The hearing was held before the senate’s consumer protection panel and discussed ways to protect consumers from weight-loss scams.
The panel talked about “the Doctor Oz effect”, saying that his show had become a catalyst for such scams, and that the show’s affiliation with certain products had caused a dramatic increase in sale prices.
The products the panel took specific aim at were Pure Green Coffee Beans, which claim to help users lose up to 9 kilos in four weeks, and Raspberry Ketone supplements, which faced charges for false advertising.
The panel showed a clip of an ad forThe Dr Oz Show, in which he says, “It’s green coffee beans, and when turned into a supplement, this miracle pill can burn fat fast. It’s very exciting and it’s breaking news.”
The panel said viewers trust what Dr Oz says and statements like this get attention.
“The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the products you call miracles,” McCaskill said.
Dr Oz defended himself, saying the effectiveness of the products he promotes on his show have been demonstrated and produce results when teamed with a healthy lifestyle including diet and exercise.
He also said he has been more careful with his wording on the show in the past two years.
“My job, I feel, on the show is to be a cheerleader for the audience when they don’t think they have hope and they don’t think they can make it happen,” he said.
“It jump-starts you. It gives you the confidence to keep going.”
Dr Oz told the panel he had been victimised by companies using his quotes out of context and has even confronted such scammers himself.
“If you see my face or my picture or anything from my show in an advertisement, do not buy the product,” he said.
Representatives from advertising regulatory agencies and a nutrition council also spoke before the panel and agreed with Dr Oz that some weight-loss supplements do show results when teamed with diet and exercise.
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