Prevention Matters

NEWSWEEK delivers a scathing assessment of much of the health advice delivered on Oprah Winfrey's megapopular talk show. The TV diva's influence is such that she can drive millions of women to pursue better health, but Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert write that "...the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad."

"Some of the many experts who cross her stage offer interesting and useful information... Others gush nonsense," they write. "Oprah, who holds up her guests as prophets, can't seem to tell the difference. She has the power to summon the most learned authorities on any subject; who would refuse her? Instead, all too often Oprah winds up putting herself and her trusting audience in the hands of celebrity authors and pop-science artists pitching wonder cures and miracle treatments that are questionable or flat-out wrong, and sometimes dangerous."'

Kosova and Wingert single out for criticism recent appearances on Oprah's show by actress Suzanne Somers to hawk hormone replacement therapy and by Playboy pinup Jenny McCarthy to denounce child vaccines as a cause of autism.