Why Do People Love Dr. Oz?

Oprah Winfrey first referred to Mehmet Oz as “America’s doctor” in 2004, during one of his earliest appearances on her television show

The label stuck. Oz is a rare find: a straight-talking, highly respected and credentialed member of the medical establishment, the camera loves him and he explains complex medical issues in ways that almost anyone can understand.

“The Dr. Oz Show” often focuses on essential health issues such as the proper ways to eat, relax, exercise, and sleep, and how to maintain a healthy heart.  Much of the advice Oz offers is sensible, and is rooted solidly in scientific literature.

Eric Topol, professor of genomics and the director of the Translational Science Institute at the Scripps Research Institute, founder of the medical school at the Cleveland Clinic and past leader of its department of cardiovascular medicine is quoted as saying: “…Mehmet is a kind of modern evangelist. He is keenly intelligent and charismatic. He was always unique, but now he has morphed into a mega-brand.”

Millions of people watch Dr. Oz, everyday, as he enthusiastically explores the options for promoting and maintaining health other than the medical treatments that are rooted in his training.

This is a common question asked by people who trust the opinion of Dr. Oz.

Oz never endorses specific brands, and he has a form, prominently displayed on his Web site, that viewers can use to report misleading advertisements that invoke his name. But his enthusiasm makes it hard to tell the difference, and, when it comes to sales, the words “as seen on ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ ” are often as valuable as the words “recommended by Dr. Oz.”

Dr. Oz describes modern medicine as a “civil war” waged between conventional physicians and those who are open to alternative cures. He considers it his mission to walk the line that divides them.

Often his show, and his enthusiasm, seems to erase that line completely, with results that may be less benign than Oz and his many viewers realize.

Oz is an experienced surgeon, yet almost daily he employs words that serious scientists, medical and alternative practitioners, shun, like “startling,” “breakthrough,” “radical,” “revolutionary,” and “miracle” much to the disbelief to all but the audience and the subject of the pronouncement.

Last year, in a show about weight loss, Oz examined raspberry ketones, a lightly studied weight lossl supplement, as “the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat.” That set off a wave of buying frenzy throughout the nation. The supplement quickly vanished from the shelves of vitamin stores.

A similar buying frenzy at vitamin stores followed his embrace of “the miracle” of green coffee beans, a few months later.

Dr. Oz also reviewed a more rigorously studied weight loss supplement, Relora™, with similar fanfare.  It is available only in professional channels, under the brand name Reloraplex™. Due to its professional-only availability, fewer people could secure the supplement, never the less, it enjoys many satisfied users. Reloraplex™ is now available to the public through selected professional on-line sites like NUPRO.  You can order Relora here  »

Oz likes to say, “Marcus Welby—the kindly, accessible, straight-talking television doctor—is dead.

The era of paternalistic medicine – where the doctor knew best and the patient felt lucky to have him – has ended.

Our health-care system has become impersonal, mechanized, and hollow, and it has failed millions of people, many of whom want to find a way to regain control of their own medical decisions.”

One example, Patient centered medicine, is team approach with a fully informed client in charge of expert resources: physicians, complementary practitioners, body workers (chiropractors, massage therapists, colonic therapists, dieticians and other alternative practitioners) using resources: natural food, holistic treatments and natural supplements; traditional medical treatments and pharmaceuticals and other alternative treatments to help support the client’s health and healing objective.

It’s the replacement for the traditional sick care model that’s bankrupting families by managing symptoms without addressing the external factors of declining health – diet, relaxation, sleep and external contaminants.

Of course, it requires experts that are competent in their fields, recognizing their limitations and respectful of other members of the team – and an actively involved client.

Is Natural Medicine Really New?

Is any of this: startling,” “a breakthrough,” “radical,” “revolutionary,” “a miracle”, or is it just what the doctor ordered?  Learn more about natural medicine  »

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