Kaplods- those are good points. You're right, as a doctor he should be held to a higher standard.

Did anyone else watch his show about the "preshistoric diet" last week? It was pretty entertaining and made a good point. The scenario: three women agreed to eat the same diet zoo animals consumed (this based on a previous study in England giving 9 people the same diet as zoo apes). The ladies spent 48 hours living in a tent at the zoo and eating only raw fruits, veggies and for some reason, a single olive for salt (WTF? I think they wanted sugar, not salt!) No caffeine, fats (except for raw ones in seeds and avocado) or processed sugar.

Not surprisingly, the womens' average BP, cholesterol, triglycerides and weight went down significantly. I think the triglycerides decreased by 20% or so! Well, I thought I'd give it a whirl this weekend, so I hit the farmers' market on Friday and am trying some new veg and also enjoying some other raw for the first time. I am surprised that some I usually cook or juice (kale, red cabbage, pattypan squash) are tasty raw. I took my BP at the drugstore this afternoon and it was down, although that's not exactly a scientific result. But it's gone from 128/86 to 118/81 in a day. Then again, I didn't have any caffeine this morning!

Anyway, if nothing more, it's getting me more aware and appreciative of what's going in my mouth, and how delicious plain plants sometimes are. That was one of his better shows in awhile, until we got to the ubiquitous supplement segment...

The olive makes sense, because we need some sodium in our diet. Sorry for the TMI, but I would guess that apes get their salt and other mineral needs met by means that humans would find objectionable (such as by eating dirt and insects, or by grooming themselves and their friends by licking each other). Gorillas and chimps are also known to eat/drink excrement and urine, and I have read that the reason they do so is for the mineral content).

Yep, I'd much rather have an olive.

If you're interested in the primative (Primal) diet, look at Mark's Daily Apple.

Dr. Oz seems now to be in bed with those from whom he can profit. There is a difference between "endorsing" a product without pay and getting in bed with companies who put money into your bank account. Just my opinion, of course, and I was never a staunch fan (he's on when I'm at work and I don't make it a point to catch his show) but celebrity endorsements sometimes mean nothing.

I don't watch Dr. Oz very often, but I was pretty unimpressed with his show with Gary Taubes of Good Calories, Bad Calories fame.

Gary Taubes writes about the encounter here on his site... and the video of the show, cut into Parts 1, 2 and 3, can be seen here on Dr. Oz's site. I mean, the title of Dr. Oz's show alone here, "The Man Who Thinks Everything Dr. Oz Says is Wrong", is just ridiculous.

Dr. Oz comes off to me as a showboater, insincere and misleading, while Gary Taubes is bemused and tolerant of being patted and patronized. And by the way, Gary Taubes later posted his official cholesterol test readings, and they were all within normal, healthy levels.

So... I'm not a Dr. Oz fan

He's a liar for the sake of ratings. He was actually facing lawsuits for slander with his episode about apple juice containing arsenic. The reality is that he used the wrong tests and promoted the use of the wrong forms of test strips to check apple juice. There is a major difference between the tests for water (which he used) and the tests for juice. Juice is different because of the acids or the proteins or something I can't quite remember and so they have certain tests designed to accurately detect the real levels.

The FDA mostly gave him a slap on the wrist because there was nothing they could really do legally but I heard that some of juice companies were looking at suing him for slander. After that I have refused to watch him. It's wrong for him to create unnecessary fear in people.

I'm not going to agree or disagree with an opinion on Taubes in this post, but I would like to say that in this case Oz stood up for what he believed in and it seems to be one of the few shows where he didn't just open up a promotional platform for any person with a diet book or product to sell. In my personal opinion I think he was very fair to Taubes by offering him a large amount of time to discuss his views and I thought Oz was very polite in his manner of disagreeing - but at least in this case he admitted that he disagreed with a guest which he doesn't often do and that's my problem with Oz these days.

Prior to this, I had read Dr. Oz's articles in Prevention Magazine but had never seen his show. Because Tony Horton was on Dr. Oz yesterday, I recorded the show. For those that don't know, Tony is a trainer known for such programs as P90X, and 10 Minute Trainer. I have to agree with skeptics on this thread now, because Dr. Oz was essentially promising major results to people doing 10 minutes of exercise a day, but all his success stories were people that had done P90X which is an hour a day, 6 days a week. And that was never pointed out. 10 minutes a day is better than nothing, but it's not the same as an hour a day.

I absolutely love Dr Oz

I was extremely surprised when I saw that episode. I didn't expect his endorsement of that diet.

He devoted a lot of time to the diet and allowed views from both sides of the debate. But he ended with serious cautions.

People in the audience described horrific side effects.

A doctor said it can increase risk of some kinds of cancer. Another doctor said it can cause sudden cardiac death or gallbladder disease.

At the end of the program, Dr Oz said:
* Do NOT purchase hcg products that are sold to consumers.
* Do NOT consume less than 1200 calories
* He believes more studies are needed on hcg injections and so far there are NO studies showing it is effective
* He said if you really must try this, only do it with a real doctor with constant monitoring.

He published this article against the diet on his site:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/hcg-diet-fact-vs-fiction