Dr Oz sued for weight loss supplement Garcinia Cambogia

The lawsuit has specifically singled out supplement seller Labrada, as well as Dr. Oz and Harpo Productions, and is seeking refunds for consumers as well as damages. 

Labrada advertises Garcinia Cambogia as a ‘fat loss aid’, explaining that the Hydroxycitric Acid isolated from the fruit helps control cravings and prevents body fat from being made. 

Although the site does not specifically advertise Dr Oz’s endorsement, a number of the reviews mention that they decided to try the product after it was mentioned on his show. 

A representative for The Dr Oz Show has since said the lawsuit is an attack on free speech. 

‘As we have always explained to our viewers, The Dr Oz Show does not sell these products nor does he have any financial ties to these companies,’ they told TMZ. 

This isn’t the first time Garcinia Cambogia has landed Dr Oz in hot water. 

Garcinia Cambogia is a tropical fruit that has been claimed to aid weight loss by burning fat quicker and curbing appetite thanks to the Hydroxycitric Acid that is isolated from the fruit (pictured) 

Although Dr Oz has never specifically advertised a specific supplement brand, his image is often used to help sales and the lawsuit claims sales of supplements containing Garcinia Cambogia skyrocketed after his show 

In 2014 Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon whose television career first began on The Oprah Winfrey Show, appeared before a congressional hearing for praising Garcinia Cambogia, green coffee extract and raspberry ketone as weight-loss aids.

Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, the chairman of the Senate’s consumer protection panel, scolded Oz for promoting magic pills.

‘I get that you do a lot of good on your show,’ she said during the hearing. ‘But I don’t get why you need to say this stuff because you know it’s not true. When you have this amazing megaphone, why would you cheapen your show?’ 

‘The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you called miracles,’ she continued.

Multiple studies have concluded that Garcinia Cambioga did not noticeably help people lose weight any more than a placebo pill. 

Oz agreed that his language about the supplements had been ‘flowery’ but said he believes the products can be short-term crutches and that he even gives them to his family. 

Last year a group of ten doctors sent a letter to Columbia University urging that Oz lose his faculty institution at the prestigious Ivy League university, citing his promotion of ‘miracle’ weight-loss aids on his show 

‘I recognize they don’t have the scientific muster to present as fact but nevertheless I would give my audience the advice I give my family all the time,’ he said.

Oz reiterated that he never endorsed specific supplements and said he would publish a list of specific products he believed would help Americans lose weight. 

Last year a group of ten doctors sent a letter to Columbia University urging that Oz lose his faculty institution at the prestigious Ivy League university, citing his promotion of ‘miracle’ weight-loss aids.

‘Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine,’ the letter read. 

It added that Oz had ‘misled and endangered’ the public by ‘promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain’. 

The university responded that it upheld Oz’s right to ‘freedom of expression’ and that he would not be removed from the faculty. 

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