Sensationalist Science

On Friday afternoon, I came back from lecture and was preparing for Shabbos, cleaning up and everything. The TV was just on because Yoni was playing with the remote, when Dr. Oz's show began.  I had seen a commercial for it the day before, too, wherein the Doc opened by saying "We all have cancer." That's sort of true, albeit misleading (since having cancerous cells in your body is not the same as "having cancer" to a lay audience) according to one theory of immune surveillance, but of course it's very sensationalized so that people can be frightened of it and listen to what Dr. Oz was telling them to do.  What did he want them to do to prevent their cancer from overtaking their immune system?  Eat free-range yogurt, dark berries (for antioxidants) quinoa, and other healthy foods. And to exercise.  Smart advice.


I'm certainly not trying to undermine Dr. Oz's authority, but it's obvious that he dumbs things down for the public, to make it both scary and understandable.  One quick example: He was talking about antioxidants, and asked an audience memeber if they know what oxidation is.  She said "Yeah, it's like, helps, with oxygen." To which he said, "Well, okay, so really that's what a lot of people think, but it's really rusting.  Oxidation is when your body rusts on the inside." He then showed a hemisected apple, which had gotten a bit brown since it was exposed.  And said that kind of thing goes on in our bodies and antioxidants help slow it down.


Now, I never really liked sensationalistic science. In fact, I used to hate it.  But I'm beginning to understand that he sort of needs to do that if he wants people to pay attention.  It may be kind of misleading, and not exactly correct, technically, but if it gets a lot of people to eat right and lose weight, well, isn't that still good?  Do they really need to understand how oxidation works to know that antioxidants are good for you?