Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know that I am no fan of Dr. Oz. I even wrote a blog post on his ridiculous show on overcoming obesity a few months back. Can you imagine recommending to an obese woman to eat lowfat yogurt and edamame as a snack?
Talk about priming the pump for a serious eating binge! Kind of like his misinformed show promoting the benefits of pumpkin seed oil.
Another show that was incredibly frustrating and shortsighted to me was his “interview” (if you could call it that) of Dr. Kaayla Daniel, author of The Whole Soy Story, and Dr. Mark Hyman (plant based diet proponent).
The topic covered the pros and cons of soy this past October. The interview was a huge letdown to me in every way.
Did Dr. Oz dig into the intricacies and the fallacies of this very complicated subject?  No. The discussion was so incredibly broad brush that no one could have gleaned anything of real value if confronted with the topic for the very first time. It was a classic example of TV marketing – building up anticipation and viewership for an episode which promised an in depth, quality debate between Dr. Daniel and Dr. Hyman only to be given a few choice soundbites. Poorly planned and poorly executed all around.
It isn’t a good idea to be critical all the time, though, and when something is done well, the effort should be applauded. Such was my reaction to the recent episode of the Dr. Oz Show that featured Dr. Mercola, creator and author of one of the top 5 health websites in the world.
I have to admit that I was very skeptical before watching this segment as I was anticipating another letdown similar to what transpired with Dr. Kaayla Daniel’s interview. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as Dr. Oz permitted Dr. Mercola an extended amount of time to verbalize his views and answer the critical questions put before him. I thought Dr. Mercola came across as clear thinking and eloquent. Dr. Oz came across as an open minded interviewer. Bravo!
I was especially delighted when Dr. Mercola’s plug for grassfed raw milk was not edited out or immediately shot down by Dr. Oz!  Pinch me, am I dreaming?
Could it be that Dr. Oz is coming around or is he just trying to gain viewers from our neck of the woods? My guess is that it’s all in the name of marketing, but only time will tell for sure.
Have a look for yourself.  What did you think?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Hi again Sarah,
Sorry about the double post above. Would you mind deleting one?
Yes, yes, I totally agree he needs to earn a living. Never ever imagined he should do it for free.
What I was attempting to convey is that he’s incredibly aggressive with his marketing and self-promotion in a way I find not only distasteful, but at certain times somewhat unethical, because there are simpler, cheaper, and accessible ways for the masses who need real health to get it now, as found on many great sites, like yours for instance, but also on product sites with articles written in ways that do not demand a sale, or induce fear with sensationalism, but strive for education. (An example might be Dr. Ben Kim’s great site/blog.)
That said, still championing Dr. Mercola’s brazen outspoken challenging of the mainstream, as always! He is who he is, and glad he’s out there.
Hi Meg, Dr. Mercola needs to earn a living. Expecting someone to do something for free is just not the free market way nor is it realistic. Running his site I would expect takes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and he has to pay for that somehow If he is selling product he believes in and doesn’t harm anyone, that is fine by me I may not agree with everything he says or does, but you have to admit, he is really rocking the boat of mainstream medicine and for that, I really admire him.
That’s great to hear.
I’m also curious about the great admiration for Dr. Mercola expressed here (blog article and comments). I used to follow his writings regularly but eventually, I felt tired of his work being full of self-promotion, aiming at boosting his extremely profitable business. In that sense, his is MO seems to be the antithesis of what your blog stands for here.
I stopped subscribing to his blog/messages a few years ago, because his health articles always urged me that I needed to buy his stuff to be healthy, and were packed full of ads. That didn’t seem to be honest or empowering of others. And the sensationalism he sometimes uses seems to obscure the quiet truth about old-fashioned, simple, accessible and sustainable health. But perhaps he’s changed in that sense, and I missed the transition.
Those issues aside, he’s a wonderfully eccentric maverick, saying a lot of things no one else dares to say, so in that sense, I’m always glad he’s out there and happy he keeps the health propaganda in balance by swaying it way, way over in the other direction!
That’s great to hear.
I’m also curious about the great admiration for Dr. Mercola expressed here (blog article and comments). I used to follow his writings regularly but eventually, I felt tired of his work being full of self-promotion and to boost his extremely profitable business. In that sense, his is MO seems to be the antithesis of what your blog stands for here.
I stopped subscribing to his blog/messages a few years ago, because his health articles always urged me that I needed to buy his stuff to be healthy, and were packed full of ads. That didn’t seem to be honest or empowering of others. And the sensationalism he sometimes uses seems to obscure the quiet truth about old-fashioned, simple, accessible and sustainable health. But perhaps he’s changed in that sense, and I missed the transition.
Those issues aside, he’s a wonderfully eccentric maverick, saying a lot of things no one else dares to say, so in that sense, I’m always glad he’s out there and happy he keeps the health propaganda in balance by swaying it way, way over in the other direction!
SO glad you wrote about this! I was also pleasantly surprised about the way this segment was handled and VERY happy Dr M got the “raw milk” plug in! Matt and I were cheering. I, too, was disappointed about the soy story. The GMO episode was actually quite good though and Jeffrey Smith came off looking great- the rep for Monsanto not-so-much 🙂 Dr Oz is anti GMO though and pro-soy, so there ya go. I try to keep up with his show some to see the types of advice being doled out- basically to find out what I’m going to have to dispell to my clients! It is great to see some sane advice sneaking through!
There was a 4th segment. It’s titled “The Surprising Supplement You Need”. It’s about astaxanthin which Dr Mercola advocates. I tried to link it but could not figure out how to do it on my iPad
I think he occasionally throws a little “good” info out there to lure people in. He seems to be bought and paid for by the pharma companies imo.
I too was bracing for word vomit but I was decently surprised. We are all able to agree to disagree and I liked that they both handled the interveiw with respect. It opened up a lot for many veiwers that had never heard of him too, the will be able to go to his sight and read for their own.