Need Another Reason Not To Trust What You Read On The Dr. Oz Show Website?

This past Monday, I wrote a blog about the wastefulness of the NMR LipoProfile test recommended by Dr. Mark Hyman during his PBS appearance (and on his website and I suspect in his new book, etc.). He emphatically advocated for the test because he felt that it was an essential tool to identify people at risk for heart attacks. I opined that it was another expensive test expected to provide little additional information for most people.

Alas, along comes a new study that merits attention. According to the study, performed by John Danesh, FRCP, of the University of Cambridge in England, and colleagues belonging to the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, there was only slight improvements in cardiovascular risk prediction gained by adding more blood lipid-related markers to conventional factors. In fact, fewer than 5% of individuals would have their risk classifications changed by including such new markers.

According to the researchers, adding more lipid markers to the risk prediction equation brought, at best, only "slight improvement." The research, published in the June 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that replacing the standard blood tests used today to determine cholesterol levels and cardiac risk markers with these new lipoprotein-associated factors reduced the accuracy of risk prediction.

In practical terms, this study showed it would be necessary to test from 800 to 4,500 individuals for these lipoprotein markers in order to prevent one major cardiovascular event over 10 years. Now that sure seems like a waste of time and money because even if you test positive, it doesn't assure that you will do anything different in terms of lifestyle or treatment. Even if you add a statin, there is no guarantee it will prevent a heart attack because plenty of people who take statins still have heart attacks. The key to good heart health remains lifestyle and you should live a healthy one regardless of what a doctor or diagnostic test tells you.


The NMR LipoProfile offers three case studies to support their product. Not surprising that the first case study, described as an overweight man, was found to be at greater risk of having a major cardiovascular event based on the test. Duh! Being overweight is clearly a risk factor and you don't need an extra blood test for confirmation.

The take-away here is the usual one. Don't wait for blood tests and diagnoses to force you to take stock of your life and make the changes that will both improve the quality of your life today and your enjoyment of life for years to come. Remember, the longer you live, the healthier you've been.

So once again, I searched the Dr. Oz website to see what it had to say on this matter and of course, there is a posted article written by Dr. Hyman strongly supporting this test.  Imagine that? 

Dr. Oz and Dr. Hyman Make Quite A Pair of Showmen!

The other night, I happen to catch Dr. Mark Hyman on a local PBS affiliate. Having heard Dr. Hyman speak at the American College of Preventive Medicine conference in February 2012 in Orlando to a group of doctors, I was keen to hear what he had to say to a layperson TV audience.

It started out innocently enough. He spoke about the dangers of diabetes and obesity, the need to eat well, get plenty of exercise, etc.  Then the garbage started. He started touting the need for special blood tests like the NMR LipoProfile test for cholesterol particle size, the need for a special blood test to identify insulin resistance, and the need for everyone to take dietary supplements. My recollection of his speech at the convention to doctors was that he made no mention of the need for these tests or for dietary supplements (other than to me when I questioned him about his own usage).

I'm not surprised that he didn't do so in front of a sophisticated audience; but, I was flabbergasted why he was now singing another tune to a raptly attentive and susceptible TV audience. I didn't have to wait long for my answer. As the show ended, there was a reference to organizations that had helped fund the show.  Among the sponsors were NMR LipoProfile, the company that sells the cholesterol test, and Metagenics, a company that sells supplements.

I was so disappointed that Mark Hyman had essentially sold out his audience. People don't need more blood tests than the conventional tests to tell them that they have a cholesterol or blood sugar problem. Does it really matter if you have a 33% versus a 38% relative risk of developing diabetes or heart disease? Either way, you should make lifestyle changes to avoid them.

These tests are by and large, in my opinion, just plain ridiculous and unnecessary and they only serve to line the pockets of the companies that sell the tests and the doctors who order them with reckless abandonment.  Patients don't need more tests from doctors; they need more time, guidance, and support from them. In my opinion, for whatever it's worth, Mark Hyman is another doctor gone astray by the lure of fame and money.

Of course, he's not the first, and he's not alone. He has his good friend Dr. Oz to keep him company.

Today, I was contacted by a Canadian reporter doing a story on Dr. Oz. She let me know that she had cited my blog in a previous story she wrote about Oz and directed me to the story.

I have often wondered if Dr. Oz actually believes it when he says that a supplement he promotes is as good as he claims or it is all showmanship. If the Dr. Oz quote from her article is accurate, it appears that he doesn't truly believe in his "miracle cures" and "magic pills." For example, in regards to raspberry ketones, he believes that it may have, at best, a marginal benefit.  He is actually quoted as saying that raspberry ketones have the value of a "nudge."  A "nudge" does not quite match the characterization of raspberry ketones as an amazing weight loss product as he claimed on his show.

The article goes on to reveal Dr. Oz's main excuse for pushing so many different products on an unsuspecting audience--which is to give people hope. After reading the article, I can only conclude that he makes such pronouncements at best to make himself seem like  a savior by giving people hope, albeit false hope at that, and at worse to make some money by promoting the sale of a product.  

Read his own words in describing himself. I couldn't make this up:

"There are three words to describe what I do. I’m a doctor. This comes from the Latin docere, teacher. I’m a physician, which comes from the Latin, physica, science. I’m a medicine man, which means healer. To help someone else, you have to have science, you have to be able to heal, and you have to be able to teach. They all work together. In Western medicine, we put a disproportionate (emphasis) on the science part."

Did he really say a "disproportionate (emphasis) on the science part." Really? What should we rely upon when it comes to your health? Opinions? Anecdotes? Marketing? 

Here's another Latin word that seems to be lacking in Dr. Oz's vernacular.  It's veritas, which means truth. Used in the motto of many leading universities including Harvard, Yale and Duke, it is the essence of education to seek and find truth.  If he were a true teacher, he would espouse the truth. It is a shame that Dr. Oz feels his audience doesn't deserve or can't handle the truth.  Instead, he gives them false hopes in the name of good TV and money-making.

May I speak for others when I say we all would like some veritas from Oz and Hyman if they wish to be considered true teachers?