Is Weight-Loss Advice from Dr. Oz Trustworthy?

Dr. Mehmet C. Oz, chairman and Professor of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, testifies in June on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, before the Senate subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance hearing to examine protecting consumers from false and deceptive advertising of weight-loss products. Photo by AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke

By Harley Pasternak

I’m beginning to think there are two Dr. Oz’s. At the very least, Dr. Oz speaks out of both sides of his mouth. On his TV show, one of the top talk shows, he enthusiastically endorses questionable weight-loss supplements. Yet go to his website and you’ll find Dr. Oz’s “100 Best Weight-Loss Tips,” which proclaims: “Forget supplements and surgery – make small, simple changes to your diet and daily routine to lose weight.” Here is some of “Dr. Oz’s tried-and-true advice” for lasting weight loss: Plan your meals ahead of time, don’t skip meals, snack on nuts, stay hydrated, eat slowly and avoid packaged snack foods. None of these tips are revolutionary. Most nutritionists, including me, have been saying these things for years, and most of them are backed up by good research. But such down-to-earth advice doesn’t whip a studio audience into a frenzy.

Notice I wrote nutritionists, not cardiothoracic surgeons. Because that’s what Dr. Oz is. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and now the director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, his medical credentials are impeccable. But…

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If you had a problem with your feet, would you make an appointment with a podiatrist or a cardiothoracic surgeon? Likewise, if you had a dislocated shoulder, you’d call in an orthopedist, not a nutritionist, right? So why would you expect a surgeon to be an expert on nutrition? After all, according to a 2010 paper entitled “Nutrition Education in U.S. Medical Schools: Latest Update of a National Survey,” published in a 2010 issue of Academic Medicine, medical students on average get a mere 22 hours of nutrition instruction. And only 27 percent of the more than 100 schools responding to the survey met the minimum of 25 hours recommended by the Academy. The authors concluded bleakly, “The amount of nutrition education that medical students receive continues to be inadequate.” And you can bet that when Dr. Oz got his M.D. in 1986, the bar was even lower.

Which takes me back to the other Dr. Oz. This one is the (not-a-nutritionist) host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” on which he often holds forth on weight loss. He has lauded at least 16 “magic” weight-loss “miracles” in what he himself calls “flowery language” in recent years. They include green coffee bean extract, raspberry ketones, Garcinia cambogia and yacon syrup, among others. All promise to raise your metabolism and melt away fat without the need to change your diet or up your activity level. Sounds too good to be true. And of course, it is.

Related: Is Yacon Syrup the Next Best Thing for Weight Loss?

I’ll bet Dr. Oz knows that too, even if he isn’t a nutritionist. He also must know that there isn’t credible research backing up these claims. Most people know such results are unlikely or at best, unsustainable, but they can always hope. Perhaps worst of all, misleading the overweight public undermines the more moderate approach nutritionists recommend. It’s not a miracle or magic to eat less, eat better and move more, but this combination will help melt pounds over time.

Earlier this summer, Dr. Oz was asked to appear in front of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, where Chairperson Claire McCaskill took him to task for his irresponsible and unsupportable statements about weight-loss products on his show, which cause sales of such products to escalate. “I don’t get why you need to say this stuff when you know it’s not true. When you have this amazing megaphone, why would you cheapen your show?” The respected cardiothoracic surgeon replied, “If you see my name, face or show in any type of ad, email or other circumstance, it’s illegal,” meaning that he has not endorsed any particular products or received payment for mentioning them. But then he did some shape shifting and the snake oil salesman reappeared. “My job … is to be a cheerleader for the audience,” he said, “and when they don’t think they have hope, when they don’t think they can make it happen, I want to look, and I do look everywhere, including in alternative healing traditions, for any evidence that might be supportive to them.” What happened to “Dr. Oz’s tried-and-true advice” for lasting weight loss?

Related: How to Spot a Weight-Loss Scam

I would suggest Dr. Oz confine himself to medicine and stop misleading millions of viewers by filling their heads with false dreams. Perhaps he should say goodbye to the other Dr. Oz by getting out of the huckster business, and focusing on providing real health expertise.

Harley Pasternak, M.SC., is a celebrity trainer and nutritionist who holds a master of science in exercise physiology and nutritional sciences from the University of Toronto.