Last year I made a run to Whole Foods to score a Neti Pot for my wife who was home with a stuffy nose. When I got to the store, I was informed that they were sold out. The clerk told me not to bother trying to find Neti Pots anywhere else in the neighborhood because Oprah had mentioned them for the second or third time on her show earlier in the week and that meant they’d all be gone.
Nothing about this anecdote should really surprise anyone. We all know the power of Oprah. And in this case, my consuming competitors were at least looking for a health-related product that’s supposed to work.
But there are a lot of health discussions on Oprah. And some of the guests are describing treatments or philosophies that are potentially dangerous or confusing (Jenny McCarthy on vaccines) or downright spooky. Is giving Suzanne Somers an hour to throw down the details about her stay young secrets such as a daily injection of synthetic estrogen into her vagina really the best way to spread the healthy habits?
And that’s just the beginning:
Next come the pills. She swallows 60 vitamins and other preparations every day. “I take about 40 supplements in the morning,” she told Oprah, “and then, before I go to bed, I try to remember … to start taking the last 20.” She didn’t go into it on the show, but in her books she says that she also starts each day by giving herself injections of human growth hormone, vitamin B12 and vitamin B complex. In addition, she wears “nanotechnology patches” to help her sleep, lose weight and promote “overall detoxification.” If she drinks wine, she goes to her doctor to rejuvenate her liver with an intravenous drip of vitamin C. If she’s exposed to cigarette smoke, she has her blood chemically cleaned with chelation therapy. In the time that’s left over, she eats right and exercises, and relieves stress by standing on her head. Somers makes astounding claims about the ability of hormones to treat almost anything that ails the female body. She believes they block disease and will double her life span. “I know I look like some kind of freak and fanatic,” she said. “But I want to be there until I’m 110, and I’m going to do what I have to do to get there.”
Oprah hinted that Somers might be a pioneer. I think most medical experts now share Mr. Roper’s constant state of exasperation. Am I suggesting that people with alternative health ideas should be silenced? Not really. But there is clearly some risk when recommendations that are just flat out wrong are being shared with millions along with the suggestion that they might be effective.
Read on in Newsweek’s piece: Why Health Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick.
