Is Dr. Oz Bad For Science?
Dr. Oz Wikimedia CommonsDr. Oz dispatches advice to one of the biggest audiences in the country. A New Yorker profile asks: Why is so much of that advice bunk? Dr. Oz comes off almost--almost--charming at first in a New Yorker profile out this week. But of course he does: it's one of the reasons he has a gigantic audience regularly tuning in to "The Dr. Oz Show." Michael Specter, the New Yorker writer, asks why someone like Oz, with Harvard credentials, would promote treatments that are flat-out wrong. "The Dr. Oz Show" frequently focusses on essential health issues: 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. That is why the rest of what he does is so hard to understand. Oz is an experienced surgeon, yet almost...