Supplements and Dr Oz and other medical inspirationalists

The decline of the TV doctor....Or more specifically false advertising of miracle treatments...


Dr Oz and others have gotten rich by using 'flowery language' to promote supplements for weight loss. Green coffee extract? Didn't Oprah make him famous in the first place? That's another show for medical information... Dr Oz is currently spending his days at the US Senate defending his language and promotion of supplements that do exactly nothing and making scam arts rich.

The problem with these fad supplements are several:

• Supplements are not tested and approved by the FDA and can contain toxic ingredients and can interact with prescription medication. The message here is do not use them without talking to your doctor.
• Scammers and others quickly hop on the bandwagon and get rich off the people who believe in what they see on TV.

"Just because you see a supplement product on a store shelf does NOT mean it is safe or effective," the FDA website says. "When safety issues are suspected, FDA must investigate and, when warranted, take steps to have the product removed from the market. However, it is much easier for a firm to get a product on the market than it is for FDA to take a product off the market."

While Dr Oz is grilled in Washington, we just need to remember what we have been told previously. Don't believe what  you see on TV or read online.

When Its Not News!

But you think it is. Yesterday I was cruising through the Health section of cnn.com, reading an article here, and another there. At the bottom of each article were links to more articles. I was reading titles, clicking, and reading some more.

I always look at the cancer one, in case they have discovered a cure and I missed it while sleeping or something. The one I saw yesterday was called "Chemotherapy Game-Changer for Stage IV Cancer". Immediately intrigued, I clicked the link and landed here.

Its looks like a lovely article on chemotherapy and stage IV cancer patients. ITS NOT! Its a paid ad or blog post or whatever.

A week or so ago, I was also cruising around the health section of cnn.com and found this article on inflammation which I found barely interesting and biased. It was titled "Chronic Inflammation is the Fuse for Cancer" and it also was an ad. And from the same website, Envita.com, which is the website for a bunch of medical centers.

I felt duped. I found a link on cnn.com and thought I was reading articles, not ads. I did some more poking around and found that it seems there are always more ads linked in among the true articles.

The third article down on the left is titled 'The Secret to Sleeping Throughout the Night". Its basically an ad as well. You will note the source - Simple Skin Care.

I don't think CNN is trying to scam us. I think the stores at the bottom are found by search engines and compiled there - which is why when you go back to the article, chances are the list is different. Its the advertisers who are trying to fool the search engines into thinking they are news and not a load of propaganda.

So the moral of the story is basically 'buyer beware'. Just because you think its news doesn't mean it is.

Supplements and Dr Oz and other medical inspirationalists

The decline of the TV doctor....Or more specifically false advertising of miracle treatments...


Dr Oz and others have gotten rich by using 'flowery language' to promote supplements for weight loss. Green coffee extract? Didn't Oprah make him famous in the first place? That's another show for medical information... Dr Oz is currently spending his days at the US Senate defending his language and promotion of supplements that do exactly nothing and making scam arts rich.

The problem with these fad supplements are several:

• Supplements are not tested and approved by the FDA and can contain toxic ingredients and can interact with prescription medication. The message here is do not use them without talking to your doctor.
• Scammers and others quickly hop on the bandwagon and get rich off the people who believe in what they see on TV.

"Just because you see a supplement product on a store shelf does NOT mean it is safe or effective," the FDA website says. "When safety issues are suspected, FDA must investigate and, when warranted, take steps to have the product removed from the market. However, it is much easier for a firm to get a product on the market than it is for FDA to take a product off the market."

While Dr Oz is grilled in Washington, we just need to remember what we have been told previously. Don't believe what  you see on TV or read online.

John Hopkins did not discover a dietary cure for cancer

There are a couple of hoax emails going around that have gotten the folks over at Johns Hopkins riled up enough to write a rebuttal.

I do find this humorous in some ways. How many emails have you gotten offering you a cure for anything you want and more. Either they are based on some known item that you just need to eat more/less of or not something like not cook in saran wrap. Or they refer you to someone far away with a really long name who promises you an elixir or prayer or something else that will cure you.

There are a few things they all have in common:

• Typographical errors and misspellings.
• Bad English
• Over promising

Back in the 19th century we had quack doctors who went around the country selling their cure alls. Now they don't need the horse and buggy, they just need the internet and your email address. But just remember if its too good to be true, it probably is. Use your delete button.