As the popular saying goes: “With great power comes great responsibility” and daytime TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz is feeling it firsthand…again.
Despite being a Harvard and University of Pennsylvania educated medical doctor and faculty member of the Department of Surgery at Columbia University, Dr. Oz has repeatedly come under criticism for doling out non-scientific advice to his legions of followers. A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2014 concluded that more than half of his recommendations were not backed by science and in some cases even contradicted scientific evidence.
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One such case is his promotion of a weight loss supplement called garcinia cambogia, which he touted as a “magic weight loss cure” in an episode of his show called “Five Biggest Fat Busters for Five Body Types in Just Five Days.”
According to TMZ, his promotion of the product has led to a class action suit, which says that Oz credited the supplement as “the magic ingredient that lets you lose weight without diet or exercise,” leading sales of the supplement to skyrocket. Now angry consumers are suing him, supplement company Labrada and Harpo Productions for their money back plus damages.
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This also isn’t the first time Oz has gotten in trouble for promoting this very product. In 2014, he was investigated by the US Senate. During that hearing, Oz cited a scientific study that has since been discredited.
A rep for Dr. Oz tells TMZ, “As we have always explained to our viewers, the Dr. Oz Show does not sell these products nor does he have any financial ties to these companies.”
Studies on the effectiveness of garcinia cambogia for weight loss is inconclusive at best. Research from NIH and JAMA showed that there was no evidence that linked garcinia cambogia to appetite, long term weight loss or decrease in fat mass, though one study in 2010 showed that it could lead to short term weight loss. That study concludes, “The magnitude of the effect is small, and the clinical relevance is uncertain. Future trials should be more rigorous and better reported.” In other words, a holy grail it is not.
Bottom line: Still no shortcuts to losing weight.
