Wednesday, October 22, 2014

FAKE DR. Oz AND HIS DIET

Dr. Oz diet pill endorsement was based on embellished research.If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, even if it is coming from the popular Dr. Oz. A diet pill that went viral after Dr. Oz promoted it on his show was advertised as a miracle-like weight loss supplement based on scientific evidence. According to CBS News on Oct. 21 those claims were based on research that was made up.
The researchers who were paid to pen the study paper making claims that the green coffee bean extract diet pill could help folks lose weight without diet or exercise have admitted they could not verify the data. This study was published back in 2012 in the journal Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy and Dr. Oz promoted this new product on his show, according to WTSP Channel 10 News.
The company who employed the two researchers was fined millions, but what about Dr. Oz who was more than likely the driving force behind the diet pill’s popularity? He would be at fault if he knew that the claims about the pill were bogus in the research paper, but he claims that he did not.
He did his own study on the pill when the boom fell on the research he originally presented and after coming under criticism for promoting a “miracle cure” with less than honest research behind it. For his trial he recruited 100 women in his audience and he simply gave half the women the green coffee bean extract pill and the other half were given a placebo.
After two weeks the women given the diet pill lost an average of two pounds each and the placebo group lost an average of one pound each. This was seen as an attempt at damage control and many in the medical community and some folks in Congress were not convinced with his findings.
Oz defended himself and the role that he had in the sale of the pills. He insisted that his show is about “hope” and when he saw these diet pills and the original claims made on its effectiveness it offered hope.
The company that sponsored the study, Applied Food Science Inc. agreed to pay $3.5 million as part of their settlement for presenting the false research on the diet pill. This company should have known that the botched study didn’t prove a thing.
As far as Dr. Oz, he promoted the pills on good faith. He believed the research that came along with the product was correct. Legal analyst and CBS News correspondent Eboni Williams said “Unless there was proof that Oz knew the data was fraudulent, he couldn't be held liable. "A plaintiff could argue that he 'should' have known better, but it's a high burden to prove the requisite knowledge required to prevail in court."
 

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