From “raspberry ketones” to love for Trump: here is the end of Dr. Oz (and a certain madness)

Dr. Oz lost. For about one hundred thousand votes the democrat John Fetterman, a giant in a black hoodie, bald, with a goatee and many tattoos, “Iron anti-Trumpian” as the US press defines him and who occasionally stumbles over words because he survived a stroke is the new Senator from Pennsylvania, key state for the “holding” of the Democrats in the Midterm elections. Beaten the Republican Mehmet Oz, a well-known television face in the US and who was also known in Italy for his broadcasts on health and the name Dr. Oz. The first obtained 50.4% of the votes, the second 47.2%, confirming the fears of Trump, who already in August, according to Rolling Stonehe had confided to his staff: “He will lose, f ** k!”.

Why did he win? The Time wrote, “Fetterman knew that Pennsylvania voters would respond to a candidate who looked like a Pennsylvania kid who shopped in their grocery stores and cheered on their sports teams and shared their inside jokes and grew his family as they raised theirs. He knew they would react badly to his opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a skilled television doctor from New Jersey“. Which, however, has made a campaign full of gaffes.

But who are we talking about? Mehmet Oz, 62, is a Turkish-born heart surgeon, a graduate of Harvard and who taught at Columbia University in New York. Muslim (he was the first candidate for the Confronto of this religious faith), always married to Lisa, he has four children.
We had seen him do anything on TV. Because he not only explained and chatted with the guests, but also “tested” on himself training and drinks. Was it talking about the wrinkles on his face? He had the moisturizing mask applied. Slimming with a new type of gymnastics? He would lie down on the ground and begin the exercises. In short, for those who, like the average Italian spectator, had as a comparison the seriousness and composure of Luciano Onder on Raidue, or Elisir by Michele Mirabella, the Dr. Oz Show it was an amusement park. As only Americans know how to do.

The program had arrived in Italy in 2010, dubbed: in America it was born in 2009 as a spin-off of the very famous talk show by Oprah Winfreyand in 2016 it had hosted Donald Trump (who later inducted him into the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition during his administration, before Biden removed him). After a few episodes, despite the warnings warning the public to consult the doctor before doing anything that was suggested during the show, one remained as if hypnotized and they would have bought all the supplements – but how did we live without it before? – that Dr. Oz advocated to solve every little big nuisance. Because we knew that that athletic and no longer young man was also a bit like the Wizard of Oz in the novel by L. Frank Baum, that is, a swindler, at least one who walked the often very fine line between medical advice and advertising: but not we cared that much. He was crazy, and we had a good time.

In fact, the show was a great TV success. As Oz explained: “We won ten Emmys and we held the most successful health show in the world that has inspired millions of people to take care of their health. ‘ A show for us. Also because one 2014 study in the British Medical Journal analyzing the transmission he had found a scientific finding in only 46% of the councils and over time the doctor has supported so many anti-scientific notions that it was impossible to take him seriously.

According to the Associated Press Mehmet Oz has had more lives: after being a heart surgeon (he quit exercising in 2018), he made a fortune as a salesman (although he never clarified his relationship with pharmaceutical companies), and now he was trying to exploit his notoriety as a Republican candidate. When he applied in November 2021, anyone who worked in the production of the Oz Show was required to sign a confidentiality agreement that prohibits talking about the deals with the show’s advertisers, as well as “Dr. Oz and / or his activities or private life ». An attempt to avoid other lawsuits: In recent years, some companies have taken surgeons to court, claiming they have been penalized or vilified for favoring broadcast advertisers in an exaggerated way. He defended himself, as a magician: «Describing a product as ‘magic’ or ‘miracle’ was my colorful way of explaining to the public my excitement for recent research».

In his run for the Senate, Mehmet Oz tried to leave behind all connections with pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical companies, even closing the site with the videos of the broadcasts. But what skeletons did he hide in the closet? During the Covid-19 pandemic, he promoted hydroxychlorichine, the antimalarial drug that Donald Trump also sponsored, as a treatment that worked against the virus. In fact, as we know, the drug can cause heart rhythm abnormalities, severe liver inflammation and kidney failure, as well as being ineffective in treating the virus. Plus, Oz had at least $ 630,000 worth of stock in two companies that were selling the product.

Before, there had been, in order: the exaltation for raspberry ketones, the compound that gives the fruit its smell, described by Oz as a “fat-burning” miracle potion in a bottle. Too bad there were no studies that confirmed this, or they had been tested on rats. The statement, later deleted from Twitter, that astrology could help people understand their health: “For centuries, we have used the astrological signs to examine our personality and how we interact with those around us. However, these signs can also reveal a lot about our health ». And then the benefits of green coffee extract (for weight loss), umckaloabo root (to relieve cold symptoms), lavender soap (for leg cramps), strawberry and baking soda mix (for whiten teeth).

“Nothing scandalous,” according to Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University. “American television has always been focused on selling things,” he said, recalling the NBC’s early days Camel News Caravan, whose slogan was: “Sit back, turn on a Camel and be an eyewitness to the events that have made history in the last 24 hours“. But the difference here was that Oz posed as a doctor, the show had his name and not the sponsor’s: you went to the doctor once a year, Oz entered your life every day, built trust. Or madness and hypnosis, if the most shrewd viewer was Italian. But now, it’s all over.

With the defeat in the elections of Midterm, his battles announced in the electoral campaign will disappear. Dr. Oz is in favor of same-sex marriage but opposes abortion, the legalization of recreational cannabis, the limitation of weapons, and the health reform of Obamacare. Last March he practically denied global warming, arguing, “The ideology that carbon is bad, which in itself is a lie. Carbon dioxide, my friends, [è] 0.04% of our air. This is not the problem ». The Dr. Oz Show it ended on January 14, 2022. Could this also be the end of the cardiac surgeon’s political career?