Applied Food Sciences, Inc, a maker of green coffee bean extract, will pay $3.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for claiming that their product helps people lose weight. The FTC said that their claims were based on “a study of weight loss that was so hopelessly flawed that no reliable conclusions could be drawn from it.”
Yet this fine will put only a small dent in the profits from green coffee bean extract sales, fueled primarily by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who called it “a magical weight loss cure for every body type”. Dr. Oz has promoted more than 15 other “miraculous” non-proven weight loss products on his television show, including garcinia cambogia, raspberry ketone and HCG. Dr. Oz is a highly intelligent and well-qualified medical professional, but he has become so popular that he turns any product he mentions into an instant best-seller, even when he has no scientific basis for his claims.
Dr. Oz was chastized in a recent Senate hearing (June 17, 2014) for making these outrageous claims. He defended himself by saying that his job is to “engage viewers” and “to be a cheerleader for the audience, to give them hope”, and that he may use “flowery language” in the process. This is his excuse for misleading his viewers into spending $50 or more for useless weight loss products. Unbelievable.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin is a Villager. Learn more at www.drmirkin.com
