--- title: Senate Cautions Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips description: A hearing over deceptive advertising claims canonical: https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/ author: Becca Stanek article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-17T20:04:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:28:07.157Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senate Cautions Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips og:description: A hearing over deceptive advertising claims og:url: https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7410357686f0f14/69869802361760de2990caa0/doctor-oz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3492 og:image:height: 1964 og:image:alt: Consumer Protection og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Cautions Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips twitter:description: A hearing over deceptive advertising claims twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7410357686f0f14/69869802361760de2990caa0/doctor-oz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lawmakers Caution Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Becca Stanek](https://time.com/author/becca-stanek/) ## Becca Stanek Jun 17, 2014 8:04 PM UTC  Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies at a Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing on June 17, 2014. Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies at a Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing on June 17, 2014. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images by [Becca Stanek](https://time.com/author/becca-stanek/) ## Becca Stanek Jun 17, 2014 8:04 PM UTC Lawmakers warned the TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday to proceed with caution when offering weight-loss tips. Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill called the host of _The Dr. Oz Show_ to testify at a hearing on weight-loss scams and deceptive advertising for weight-loss products after recent endorsements made on his show. “Your credibility is being maligned by fraudsters and frankly being threatened by the notion that anybody can take an itty-bitty pill to push fat out of their system,” McCaskill said to Oz during the hearing. McCaskill cited the example of Oz’s recent suggestion that viewers to take FBCx, a diet pill, to get back on track if they cheat on their diets. _The Dr. Oz Show_ website champions the pill as one of “3 Ways to Get Your Fat to Eat Itself.” Oz defended his recommendation, explaining that FBCx is essentially fiber and that his family uses the pill. He said he believes he has techniques that will work for people trying to lose weight and he wants people to try them so they can feel better. “I fill a need to fuel passion in peoples’ lives about what they can do,” he said. The hearing follows enforcement actions taken this year against companies engaged in deceptive advertising. Last month the Federal Trade Commission announced it is suing Pure Green Coffee, alleging “it capitalized on the green bean diet fad by using bogus weight-loss claims and fake news websites to market its dietary supplement.” McCaskill told Oz that he is not only a celebrity but also a doctor, and cautioned him to be responsible in using his influence. Oz expressed concerns that he’s being censored. “When I feel as a host of a show that I can’t use words that are flowery or passionate,” he said, “then I feel that my power has been disenfranchised.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/"},"headline":"Lawmakers Caution Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips","datePublished":"2014-06-17T20:04:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:28:07.157Z","description":"A hearing over deceptive advertising claims","url":"https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/","keywords":["Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7410357686f0f14/69869802361760de2990caa0/doctor-oz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Becca Stanek","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/becca-stanek/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7410357686f0f14/69869802361760de2990caa0/doctor-oz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Consumer Protection","caption":"Consumer Protection","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2891194/dr-oz-claire-mccaskill/","name":"Lawmakers Caution Dr. Oz on Weight-Loss Tips"}}]}] ```