Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” may be in some serious trouble. On Tuesday, Dr. Oz was publicly interrogated by senators concerned about the popular TV host’s promotion of weight loss products that most other health experts have dismissed as completely worthless.
Leading the grilling on Capitol Hill was Senator Claire McCaskill, chair of the subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance. The main concern of McCaskill and the other senators was Dr. Oz’s peddling of several controversial weight loss products.
Of those products, the most controversial may be Green Coffee Beans. Last month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the company behind that product after it placed unsubstantiated health claims on its website. The makers of Green Coffee Beans even made their own fake news sites to promote their product.
“The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you called ‘miracles,'” noted McCaskill, who went on to further excoriate Dr. Oz for “perpetuating these scams.”
“I don’t get why you need to say this stuff when you know it’s not true,” McCaskill added. “When you have this amazing megaphone, why would you cheapen your show?”
For his part, Dr. Oz firmly defended the weight loss products in question and insisted he recommends his own family use them.
“I actually do personally believe in the items I talk about on the show,” Dr. Oz said. “I would give my audience the advice I give my family all the time and I’ve given my family these products.”
Still, Dr. Oz — who admitted to using “flowery language” when promoting some of the more controversial weight loss products — promised to be more careful when choosing products to feature on his show in the future.
“In addition to exercising an abundance of caution in discussing promising research and products in the future, I look forward to working with all those present today in finding a way to deal with the problems of weight loss scams,” Dr. Oz said.
