{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/heres-what-experts-say-about-the-advice-on-dr-oz-and-the-doctors", "Here’s What Experts Say About the Advice on Dr. Oz and The Doctors", "2014-12-19", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Here\u2019s What Experts Say About the Advice on Dr. Oz and The Doctors \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Friday, December 19, 2014\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Alice Park\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Many Americans get their health advice not from their doctor, but from daytime television. But how good are those recommendations?\r\n\r\nReporting in the\u00a0BMJ, Canadian researchers analyzed two medical TV talk shows\u2014The Dr. Oz Show and The Doctors\u2014and found that only 46% of the recommendations on The Dr. Oz Show and 63% on The Doctors were supported by evidence. 15% of advice given on Oz and 14% of advice on The Doctors contradicted the available published evidence in journals.\r\n\u201cThe bottom line message is for people to be really skeptical about the recommendations made on these medical television shows,\u201d says study co-author Christina Korowynk, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta. \u201cThey should look for more balanced information to be presented, and understand that they need all of that information in order to make an informed decision.\u201d\r\nThey measured 80 major recommendations made on the two shows from January to May 2013 against evidence gleaned from published studies in medical databases. They looked at both consistency\u2014how much the conclusion was supported by the studies\u2014and believability, which included the quality, number and type of study.\r\nOn average, Korownyk\u2019s group found that both shows mentioned how the advice might specifically help a person in only about 40% of the recommendations, and they mentioned the amount of benefit, another aspect of useful health advice, in less than 20% of recommendations. (Harms were mentioned in less than 10% of the recommendations, and costs in less than 15%). She says that without such information on how much benefit and harm a particular recommendation might have, it\u2019s hard for people to make informed choices about whether the advice is right for them.\r\nKorownyk and her colleagues aren\u2019t the first to cast doubt on the quality of advice given on the shows. In June a\u00a0Senate subcommittee heard testimony from Oz\u00a0on false advertising of weight loss claims and Sen. Claire McCaskill queried the doctor about the statements he made on the show. \u201cI do personally believe in the items that I talk about on the show,\u201d he said at the hearing. \u201cWe have to simplify complicated information. We have to make the material seem interesting and focus on the \u2018wow\u2019 factor.\u201d\r\nRepresentatives for The Doctors said in a written statement to TIME: \u201cThe Doctors was never contacted about the study or the article. Our producers and doctors all do their due diligence to make sure information provided on the show is sound, relevant and timely\u2014often debunking the myriad of medical myths that abound in the media and across the internet.\u201d\r\nMembers of The Dr. Oz Show wrote: \u201cThe Dr. Oz Show has always endeavored to challenge the so-called conventional wisdom, reveal multiple points of view and question the status quo. The observation that some of the topics discussed on the show may differ from popular opinion or various academic analyses affirms that we are furthering a constructive dialogue about health and wellness.\u201d\r\nKorownyk acknowledges that the exact impact of television health advice isn\u2019t clear, since the study didn\u2019t investigate how many of the recommendations people adopted and whether they had an effect on their health. But the advice is clearly reaching people. \u201cWhat we\u2019d love to see is a process on these shows where the evidence is reviewed in a critical manner, and presented in a balanced, objective way so the audience can understand,\u201d she says. \u201cAs physicians, we are moving toward that, and we\u2019d love to see the broader television personalities doing the same sort of thing.\u201d\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/heres-what-experts-say-about-the-advice-on-dr-oz-and-the-doctors"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.390113029628992, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}