Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Dr. Oz: I have met the enemy. It is us.

David L. Katz, MD
Physician
May 20, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share

dr oz

Enough already about Dr. Oz. Whichever side you happen to be on, we might collectively acknowledge that much of the noise being made about what is, at worst, a symptom, is itself an indication of a culture-wide disease. The fate of Ozymandias comes to mind.

Science is Ozymandias. Soundbites are the ruin of it.

In the case of the Oz saga, it’s abundantly clear to anyone who actually has examined the details, from green coffee bean extract, to glyphosate, to the BMJ’s take on evidence-based guidance, that most people sounding off certainly have not. At this point, it’s business as usual in our culture: Most people with something to say are mistaking their opinion about someone’s opinion about someone’s opinion, for a fact.

This goes on all the time and at our collective peril. Consider, for instance, the now infamous meta-analysis that showed us all “it’s good” to eat saturated fat. Just one question: Did you read it? Do you even know anyone who actually read it? (Well, you now know at least one…) As for whether or not those opining were qualified to understand the study even on the odd chance they did read it, well — that’s clearly asking too much.

That study was promptly converted into headlines such as “Butter is Back” and has become a pop culture meme. But the study never so much as hinted at a health benefit from saturated fat. It showed, in essence, only that across a very narrow range of saturated fat intake in the U.S., rates of heart disease were always high and just about constant. All it really showed is that we have invented more than one way to eat badly (we have, in fact, been doing just that for decades now). And no, this is not some radical assertion of mine; when I was on NPR with the study’s senior author, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the nutrition school at Tufts, he said much the same.

But this sort of distortion is not an exception, it’s the rule; it’s how we roll. America runs on Dunkin’ only on a good day. On an average day, we run mostly on BS.

Dr. David Allison, a colleague at the University of Alabama, who like everyone else who manages to matter at all, has both his disciples and his detractors, publishes a weeklynewsletter that compiles studies related to obesity and energetics. There is a feature, every week, entitled “Headline vs. Study.”

Yes, that’s versus. And frankly, it’s almost unbelievable how truly “versus” they tend to be. Some painfully technical, deeply ambiguous study in, say, fruit flies about the vague possibility of what some protein might potentially do, or not do, under some very specific circumstances, becomes: “Novel protein cures obesity!” Film at 11:00.

This is going to sound quite horrible, so I ask in advance: forgive me. It’s been a rough week.

Maybe, if we are this silly; this intellectually lazy; this gullible; and this eager to indulge in wishful thinking and the pursuit of pixie dust — we deserve to be as prone to the consequences as we obviously are. Maybe if we are utterly fatuous, we deserve to be fat. The real cause of epidemic obesity, diabetes, and so on? Hyperendemic stupidity.

I said I was sorry.

No one would believe such hyperbolic nonsense about money, or education. No one committed to supporting a family would look every day for a headline offering a new way to get rich quick. That’s the stuff of sitcoms. But get healthy quick? Lose weight quick? A novel molecule to fix all that ails us, fresh from a study in fruit flies? Fantastic- I’ll go get my credit card!

Folks, get out your frying pans, too, and choose your fish. This is not confined to any one source; whole industries, from big food to big publishing, Madison Avenue to Times Square, run on it.

We have a systemic problem in a culture prone to subordinate science to soundbites as a matter of routine. We have a systemic problem in our propensity to treat science like a Ping Pong ball, pretending that the weight of evidence and our fundamental understanding change with each new study. We have a systemic problem when few bother to read past headlines, and headlines are not merely hyperbolic, but as often as not, just wrong — willfully, or otherwise.

ADVERTISEMENT

Around the ruin of understanding, the vast and barren sands of our culture stretch to the horizon in every direction. I’ve wandered around there, and met the enemy. It is us.

David L. Katz is founding director, Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. He is the author of Disease-Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well.

Prev

Throwing the kitchen sink at public health problems

May 20, 2015 Kevin 0
…
Next

Paying patients for their engagement

May 20, 2015 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Mainstream media, Obesity

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Throwing the kitchen sink at public health problems
Next Post >
Paying patients for their engagement

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by David L. Katz, MD

  • There are only 3 ways to allocate health care resources

    David L. Katz, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    The dietary guidelines are for which Americans, exactly?

    David L. Katz, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    No, it’s not the broccoli: What to make of the new dietary guidelines

    David L. Katz, MD

More in Physician

  • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

    Pamela Adelstein, MD
  • When rock bottom is a turning point: Why the turmoil at HHS may be a blessing in disguise

    Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD
  • How grief transformed a psychiatrist’s approach to patient care

    Devina Maya Wadhwa, MD
  • Fear of other people’s opinions nearly killed me. Here’s what freed me.

    Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why ADHD in women is finally getting the attention it deserves

      Arti Lal, MD | Conditions
    • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why ruling out sepsis in emergency departments can be lifesaving

      Claude M. D'Antonio, Jr., MD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • A world without antidepressants: What could possibly go wrong?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Meds
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • The silent crisis hurting pain patients and their doctors

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Why great patient outcomes don’t protect female doctors from burnout [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why ADHD in women is finally getting the attention it deserves

      Arti Lal, MD | Conditions
    • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why ruling out sepsis in emergency departments can be lifesaving

      Claude M. D'Antonio, Jr., MD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Dr. Oz: I have met the enemy. It is us.
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...