Perhaps the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences should drop the final word from its title, after awarding “The Dr. Oz Show” a Daytime Emmy for its role as an “outstanding informative talk show.” Clearly, it doesn’t matter to the Academy that the information Dr. Mehmet Oz so “outstandingly” peddles is pure fiction. A 2014 study in the journal BMJ found that two thirds of Dr. Oz’s recommendations – including cutting salt to avoid cancer, and cutting GMOs to cure autism – were either baseless or completely contradicted by available scientific evidence. In that same year, “America’s Doctor” came under...

Each year, The BMJ (the journal formerly known as the British Medical Journal) publishes a Christmas issue featuring peer-reviewed studies with a playful twist. This year’s issue included a Harvard University study titled, “Do celebrity endorsements matter? Observational study of BRCA gene testing and mastectomy rates after Angelina Jolie’s New York Times editorial.” While perhaps not the most lighthearted topic, the study piqued our interest. Do celebrity endorsements (à la Dr. Oz’s weight loss pills or Gwyneth Paltrow’s detoxes) really influence people? According to Dr. Sunita Desai and Dr. Anupam Jena, the answer is yes.** The researchers evaluated the rate of BRCA gene testing in the months before...

TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz has brought yet another unwanted spotlight upon himself. The good doctor (we use the term loosely) is being sued by the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) for making false claims against the quality of olive oil sold in the U.S. Dr. Oz recently claimed a “shocking” 80 percent of extra virgin olive oil bought at the local supermarket isn’t real. He alluded to widespread fraud in the olive oil industry as a scam to sell inferior products at a higher price. The irrefutable evidence? Not a laboratory-conducted analysis, but a taste tester. While Dr. Oz relies on the fanciful authority of one...

Today the Center for Accountability in Science (CAS) released the results of a new survey showing most Americans couldn’t pass a high school health class. The national survey, conducted by ORC International, asked 1,024 adults ten questions covering food and nutrition. Overall it showed that we all could be a little smarter about nutrition. Dr. Joseph Perrone, chief science officer of CAS chalked up the poor performance to misinformation spread by pseudoscientists and TV doctors, arguing junk science has serious consequences.  “When celebrities such as Dr. Oz say ‘superfoods’ are better or cast doubts on GMOs, they’re doing the public a...

If you’ve listened to a popular podcast, used music streaming apps like Pandora and Spotify, or watched cable news recently, you’ve probably seen advertisements for Lumosity—a “brain training” program that claims its games could help consumers maximize their brains’ performance at work, school, and sports and stave off age-related cognitive decline. It sounds great—by simply playing fun games a few times per week, we could improve brain performance. Unfortunately, there isn’t any scientific research to back up Lumosity’s bold claims. Because of that lack of scientific evidence, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges Lumosity “deceived consumers with unfounded claims." The agency...

Earlier this year, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate (the chemical used in Roundup) as a “possible human carcinogen.” While it’s certainly a scary sounding announcement, what it really means is that like working swing shifts or drinking alcohol, the IARC says studies suggest that it’s possible exposure to glyphosate might cause cancer in humans. It doesn’t mean the IARC has discovered evidence that normal, low dose exposure to glyphosate causes any health issues. This week, the Washington Post published a well-balanced piece putting the possible risks associated by glyphosate...

Suzanne Somers, the actress best known for her roles on sitcoms Three’s Company and Step-by-Step, also happens to be a very vocal opponent of conventional medicine, technology, and agriculture. She’s currently making the talk show rounds—including a recent stop on The Dr. Oz Show—promoting her new book Tox-Sick: From Toxic to Not Sick, which makes pretty outlandish claims about the causes of disease. We’ve read her book (so you don’t have to) and compiled a few of her craziest assertions. And since she doesn’t use any citations, we did the legwork to figure out where she’s coming up with her “facts.” Somers:...

Today, Dr. Mehmet Oz is airing an episode dedicated to fighting back against the group of doctors who called his position as vice-chair of Columbia University’s Department of Surgery “unacceptable” due to his “egregious lack of integrity” and “disdain for science and evidence-based medicine.” Check out our collection of recent examples of Dr. Oz exaggerating scientific findings or ignoring an overwhelming volume of scientific research: https://accountablescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Dr.Oz_CAS.pdf  

It’s been a bad week for Dr. Oz: First a group of top doctors wrote to Columbia University Department of Surgery, calling Oz’s position as vice-chair “unacceptable” due to his “egregious lack of integrity” and “disdain for science and evidence-based medicine.” Now, leaked emails reveal that many of the health products and devices promoted by Dr. Oz on “The Doctor Oz Show” may be chosen based on business considerations, not merely their scientific merits. As Vox reported, WikiLeaks recently released emails between executives at Sony and Dr. Oz and his staff that include suggestions by Oz that he could use his...

In their recent column, Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, of the Cleveland Clinic once again spread misinformation about the safety of Bisphenol A (BPA). Dr. Joseph Perrone of the Center for Accountability in Science wrote a letter to the editor in response: The recent column by Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen ("Get the science behind BPA's risk to your health," March 31) continues to misrepresent the science showing bisphenol A’s (BPA) safety and needlessly scares consumers about the safety of everyday products. BPA is one of the most studied environmental chemicals ever with nearly 9,000...