Getty Images/Roger Kisby
Over his 11 years on TV - starting as a guest on Oprah and then as the star of his own self-named show, Dr. Mehmet Oz has publicly endorsed dozens of $4 $4.
Last week, $4
Here are five of of his wackiest recommendations:
Plant-based "magic" weight loss cures
Dr. Oz has backed several plant-based "cures" which he's said can help people lose weight, from coffee bean extract to the extract of a Southeast Asian fruit named Garcinia cambogia.
"You may think magic is make-believe, but this little bean has scientists saying they've found the magic weight-loss cure for every body type," Oz said of green coffee extract on one of his show's episodes in 2012.
Unfortunately, there was only $4$4. Plus, a few months after it was published, it was retracted when its authors said in a statement that they "cannot assure the validity of the data."
Communicating with the dead to reduce stress
Oz has brought several self-proclaimed "spiritual mediums" on the show, where they've done everything from psychic readings to telling audience members how their loved ones actually passed ($4, the Los Angeles Times reports), and giving advice.
Connecting with the dead, Oz has said, can help lower stress levels by helping people make peace with their deceased loved ones.
More recently, he's even shown the audience before-and-after $4 Never mind that these scans could literally show anything. They're done with $4$4, and taken once before and again during the readings. That means the "results" (meaning the difference in before and after scans) could simply show something like $4. The images are so unclear, however, it's hard to even determine this type of result.
Super-diluted remedies for everything from colds to the flu
Oz has publicly endorsed homeopathy, super-diluted doses of medications that have been repeatedly shown to be ineffective. In 2011, $4.
Homeopathy, his guest says, is a treatment that contains "the essence of the medication - oh, let's say the spirit of the medication." He then went on to say that that spirit "sends a message to the body to heal itself."
The "spirit" of the medication, unfortunately, has been shown to be entirely insufficient to treat any known condition. In $4. They concluded that any effects of homeopathy were largely the same as those of placebos.
"Miracle appetite suppressants"
While Oz touts coffee bean extract as the key to burning fat, he says the Middle Eastern cooking staple saffron will curb your cravings. On a $4
As of yet, $4.
"Harnessing energy" to help patients survive risky surgeries
In his 1998 book $4, Oz describes some of his more "experimental" work with registered nurse Jery Whitworth. The pair founded the Cardiac Complementary Care Center at Columbia-Presbyterian in 1994 with the idea of experimenting with different types of alternative medicine and keeping the approaches that worked.
During these experiments, Oz tried bringing Reiki, or "energy healing," into the operating room to encourage "the body's own energy to help patients survive risky operations, such as heart transplants," $4.
Scientific studies of Reiki have shown it has had little to no effect. A $4 looking at pain in women who recently had C-sections found that Reiki did nothing to reduce symptoms. >$4
Yet that did nothing to stop Oz from $4.