A new study published in the British Medical Journal takes a look at the health advice doled out by two of the most popular health shows in America: The Doctor Oz Show and The Doctors. Unsurprisingly, they found that most of the wisdom these doctors give to viewers is either baseless or contradicts the best available science. These researchers didn’t even cherry pick the worst offenders—by randomly selecting episodes, they looked at a representative sample of 479 recommendations from Dr. Oz and 445 recommendations from the Doctors. According to the study, “For slightly over 1 in 3 and 1 in 4...

Last week the syndicated TV show, The Doctors, featured a woman, Kathy, who lost 120 pounds through a process called “gastric bypass hypnosis therapy.” As it was explained on the show by Kathy’s hypnotist, Julie Evans, rather than undergoing traditional gastric bypass (or bariatric surgery) to physically shrink the stomach’s ability to hold food, Kathy was hypnotized to believe that she had undergone the surgery. The hypnotist apparently walked Kathy through her procedure, even introducing her to doctors and nurses, and claimed that Kathy then made the necessary lifestyle changes—eating small meals and healthier foods—because her body was convinced it...