This week the magazine Newsweek published an extensive story chronicling Oprah Winfrey's allowing several Hollywood stars and non-scientists to come on her show to promote possibly dangerous health practices and criticizing her apparent endorsement of them. Singled out were appearances by Hollywood star Suzanne Somers and former Playboy bunny Jenny McCarthy.

Suzanne Somers was featured on the Oprah show in January where she extensively promoted her use of hormone creams and shots and dozens of vitamin and mineral supplements to stave off the effects of aging. In the episode Winfrey appeared to endorse Somers methods by referring to her as a pioneer and supporting Somers taking on physicians who question her. Where does the scientific literature on the topic come down? Many large and well controlled studies have shown that hormone therapy can  increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.

Jenny McCarthy has been featured on Oprah's show promoting the dangers of vaccines including claiming that vaccines caused her son to have autism. During the show and since Winfrey has appeared to endorse the idea of a vaccine-autism link by failing to mention that such links have been studied in hundreds of studies where no link has been found. There has also been little mention about the benefits of vaccines or the dangers associated with not vaccinating children which include the very real risk of contracting once nearly eradicated diseases like measles and whooping cough (see  related Living the Science news articles on the McCarthy-Winfrey relationship and on the increasing rates of whooping cough).

According to a Newsweek update, Oprah responded to their article in a statement delivered to Entertainment Tonight in which she stated, "For 23 years, my show has presented thousands of topics that reflect the human experience, including doctors' medical advice and personal health stories that have prompted conversations between our audience members and their health care providers. I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them."

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Recommended Reading:

No Hormones, No Fear: A Natural Journey Through Menopause by Trisha Posner

Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul Offit