Science Shows Half of What Dr. Oz Says Is Bunk


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"Misleading at best, total nonsense at worst" is how Julia Belluz describes her gut feeling over the years about the accuracy of Dr. Mehmet Oz's medical advice, she writes at Vox.com.

 

Now she's got science to back her up, thanks to a study published in the British Medical Journal that analyzed health recommendations from Oz's syndicated TV talk show, as well as nuggets from the popular The Doctors.

 

The researchers found that about half of the suggestions offered by these shows either contradicted what other scientific studies had found or had no verifiable evidence at all to stand behind them, and that potential conflicts of interest were seldom mentioned.

 

The study looked at 40 random episodes from each show?instead of simply, as Belluz points out, "cherrypicking the worst offenders"?to get the fairest assessment.

 

In general, each episode offered up about a dozen health recommendations, so the researchers were able to cull 479 health tidbits from Dr. Oz's show and 445 from The Doctors. Most of the shows' suggestions involved dispensing general medical advice, followed by non-weight-loss dietary tips; the Doctors professionals tended to repeat the mantra of seeking out a health care provider.

 

But while the benefits of many of the claims were talked about in a general way, specific benefits and magnitude of those benefits, possible drawbacks, and costs were virtually ignored, the study found.

 

The researchers' conclusion? "Consumers should be skeptical," and we should ask ourselves "whether we should expect medical talk shows to provide more than entertainment." (Dr. Oz's "magic bean" recently lost the study that supported it.)

 

Article Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/science-shows-half-of-what-dr-oz-says-is-bunk/ar-BBgYgpC

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No ###### Sherlock!

This <sound of a duck> has been written up numerous times by other physicians, and called before Congress to explain his recommendations and his financial stake in them.

Yecch.

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having seen the show a few times it's easy to see it's just an entertainment series. it's always stuff like "whats the best X for weight loss?" and "whats the best X to keep you healthy this winter?"  so he has some "expert" on there that tells people to eat flax oil and honeycomb. :rolleyes:

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Seems half the info i get from my actual doctors is BS as well.

 

Thing about medical science is that its hardly ever certain and future studies often prove what we once thought to be true, wrong.

 

Must admit though, Mehmet Oz is a uniquely cool name.

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I think the problem is you have a huge group of people who believe anything Oprah says is legit.  Dr. Oz, may be a smart guy, and a medical doctor, but his new business is money.

He has become a quack selling snake oil, not much better than the biggest idiot of them all the Food Babe.

This giant group of sheep do not investigate anything they hear, and pass it on to other sheep as fact.  The result is a large market of people who buy into whatever the celebrities say.

I think it has to do with intelligence, I have always thought the large lot of the population is not much more intelligent than a bowl of dog vomit - then throw in mob mentality and - Dr Oz and the Food Babe get rich.

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When your policies are degraded so deductibles & uncovered out of pockets go sky high....

 

I wouldn't know. My health costs are covered in a single, once a month, national insurance payment that covers every medical need I will ever have. :p

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I wouldn't know. My health costs are covered in a single, once a month, national insurance payment that covers every medical need I will ever have. :p

Didn't used to be this way. It started to change in 2010.

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I wouldn't know. My health costs are covered in a single, once a month, national insurance payment that covers every medical need I will ever have. :p

 

Sounds good. How much does that cost?

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Sounds good. How much does that cost?

 

He pays $10 for a gallon of gas. :p

 

Teasing, i've heard this is why the prices over there are so high, but i never actually looked into it, so could be wrong.

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Sounds good. How much does that cost?

 

12% of your earnings between ?7,956 and ?41,865, 2% above that, and nothing if you're unemployed. But it covers more than just your healthcare, it also pays for a state pension when you retire.

 

Includes any pre-existing conditions too.  Basically, all healthcare costs are free at point of use. You just pay a nominal fee for prescription medications (and they're free if life saving such as insulin).

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12% of your earnings between ?7,956 and ?41,865, 2% above that, and nothing if you're unemployed. But it covers more than just your healthcare, it also pays for a state pension when you retire.

 

Includes any pre-existing conditions too.  Basically, all healthcare costs are free at point of use. You just pay a nominal fee for prescription medications (and they're free if life saving such as insulin).

 

That doesn't sound too bad, but I'm not too familiar with wages and the cost of living there.

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So it's a regressive tax. Nice.

What about income and sales and/or consumption taxes?

 

We have 3 rates for income tax:

 

Basic rate 20%  ?0 to ?31,865 

Most people start paying basic rate tax on income over ?10,000

Higher rate 40%  ?31,866 to ?150,000 

Most people start paying higher rate tax on income over ?41,865

Additional rate 45% Over ?150,000

 

Sales tax is nominally 20% (VAT), but is lower for some items.

 

Cost of living is generally higher here than in the US, but we also have tighter regulations on things like foods, so get better quality food than you guys do, and much tighter regulation on things that affect the environment.  That tends to lead to much higher taxes on fuel, too.

 

Basically, we get taxed up the wazoo and our wallets are raped at every opportunity, but at least we then don't have to worry about getting really sick or starving to death in our old again, unlike many of you poor sods in the states.

 

It's not a perfect system, of course, but it mostly works.

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