Dr. Oz 'miracle green coffee diet pills' pulled, marketer fined $9 million
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against the manufacturer of a green coffee bean extract heavily promoted by Dr. Oz on his popular television show.
The marketer of a green coffee bean extract, who appeared on Dr. Oz and The View, touting the supplement's weight-loss benefits will be paying consumers $9 million in refunds under an agreement with the FTC.
Most of the hearing centred around a green coffee bean marketed by a Dr. Lindsey Duncan, who Oz had on the show to peddle his alleged miracle. In announcing a $9 million settlement with Duncan this week, the Federal Trade Commission more accurately labeled him a "marketer" who used the "Oz Effect" to sell a phony product that he claimed resulted in incredible weight loss results.
During the "Dr. Oz" episode, host Mehmet Oz, MD, referred to the supplement as a "miracle pill" according to a Washington Post article on the episode. A YouTube clip of the segment has been taken down.
"You may think magic is make believe, but this little bean has scientists saying they found a magic weight loss cure for every body type," Oz said, according to the Post's transcript.
"Lindsey Duncan and his companies made millions by falsely claiming that green coffee bean supplements cause significant and rapid weight loss," said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. She said Duncan and others like him "prey on consumers trying to improve their health."
Duncan, the state charged, used a degree from a now-defunct and uncredited "distance-learning" natural health college whose degrees are illegal to use in Texas.
"We are working on a segment about the weight loss benefits of green coffee bean and I was hoping that Lindsey Duncan might be available to be our expert," wrote one of Oz's producers in an April 12 e-mail to Duncan's staff, according to the Washington Post. "Has he studied green coffee bean at all? Would he be able to talk about how it works?"
