Dr. Mehmet Oz went on "Fox & Friends" on Monday to say he made a "big mistake" in using "laudatory terms" to describe some of the weight loss supplements on his show and acknowledged that online marketers have turned his works into fraudulent campaigns.
Oz has been on the defense after two letters from academics and medical professionals were made public criticizing the physician and his daytime talk show "The Dr. Oz Show" for introducing the public to alternative medicine and weight loss supplements. One of the condemning letter accused Oz of quackery.
Oz said he shared the concerns of one letter sent by his colleagues at Columbia University,
noted "Fox & Friends."
The letter from the Columbia professors,
published by USA Today in April, cited a British Medical Journal report that said less than half of Oz's recommendations on his show were based on "at least somewhat believable evidence."
"This report raises concerns that Dr. Oz's presentations of anecdotal therapies as 'miracle cures' occur in the absence of what we see as obligatory discussions of conflicts of interest, possible side-effects and evidence-based medicine (or lack thereof). Many of us are spending a significant amount of our clinical time debunking Ozisms regarding metabolism and changers."
Oz told "Fox & Friends" that "miracle cures" and other terms should have never been part of his conversation in describing such drugs and he spoke in error.
"I wish I had never used the laudatory terms I used for weight loss supplements," Oz said on the show. "That was the big mistake I think all of us acknowledged, and I stopped doing that a long time ago, over a year ago."
"I never wanted my message to be hijacked by marketers on the web," Oz said. "They're stealing my name and likeness to try to sell you products. I realize there's a lot of fraud in the products themselves. They're selling you fake stuff."
Another letter from 10 doctors not associated with Columbia asked that Oz be fired from the university because of some of the claims the physician has made on his show,
according to The Wrap. Oz attacked the writers of that letter on his show last month, claiming it was an attempt to silence him because, in part, of his support for GMO (genetically modified) labeling.