When you see something that you don’t like, very often the best course of action is to say or do something about it. Last fall the Dr. Oz show ran a piece about the dangers of drinking apple juice. Did he talk about the sugar and the links to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay? No, he talked about arsenic. That’s right he is concerned about your kid getting arsenic poisoning from drinking apple juice. He did receive some criticism for this but stood by his story.
My local paper, The Poughkeepsie Journal, has a living and health section. Most of the writers are dieticians or practitioners who follow the Standard American Diet (SAD) model and recommend a low fat approach to eating. Needless to say often on Sunday mornings I can be heard yelling at the idiocy in newsprint. I called that editor and explained that I did not like what I was reading and I was particularly annoyed at the advice Dr. Oz was giving and she invited me to write a column. This is a link to the article as it appeared.
While I did not mention him by name in the article, it is Dr. Oz that I am talking about. First, Dr. Oz is a cardiologist turned entertainer, NOT a physician practicing public health. He should be laughed off the set for this fact alone. I look forward to the day when people ignore the advice from such celebrities. How great would it be for his ratings to go down and the media not even cover his take on such an asinine story?
Second, other than deliberate poisonings using arsenic, deaths from it in this country are exceedingly rare. Sickness from it is confined to the smelting industry. There do appear to be occasional toxic doses from contaminated water and aquifers, though.
Finally, Dr. Oz missed a golden opportunity to elaborate on the real dangers of drinking apple juice. Namely, diabetes, tooth decay, and obesity for the children who drink it. This is happening every day as these products are marketed as “100% natural” or “healthy.”
Dr. Oz got his start on the Oprah Winfrey Show and is still produced by Harpo Productions. Miss Winfrey is an individual who has struggled with her weight for a long time. It is no surprise that she champions medical professionals who lack an understanding of how evolutionary biology shaped us and dictates how our bodies react to different foodstuffs. We do best with what have the longest evolutionary history with. Apple juice is a processed food. We did not evolve to eat processed foods.
The next time you watch his show pay less attention to what he says and more attention to what the commercials are for. At the end of the day these are the people that pay Dr. Oz’s salary. If he comes out and says that their products are unhealthy and are killing you slowly his show will be off the air. In other words people, learn to spot what a sell out looks like.
I was going to post this just before the article was published but I am glad that I waited. The response I have received from the people has been remarkable. I got a call from a physical therapist who wanted to know why I said “Carbohydrates are not an obligate nutrient.” He did not know (or had forgotten) and wanted to argue that they are needed in the human diet. I explained that while several different types of fats and some amino acid (protein precursors) are not things that we can synthesize our selves. When I was in the bank, one of the ladies who works there said she didn’t know apple juice is loaded with sugar. She also wanted to know why no one had told her this before. I suggested she watch this above video by Dr. Lustig.
Several patients have already thanked me and the Pougkeepsie Journal has asked me to write for them again.