Newsweek: Medical experts "shocked" by Oprah Winfrey's take on hormone replacement and Suzanne Somers' theories on aging

After a contentious taping of a recent Oprah Winfrey show featuring actress/author Suzanne Somers, a number of medical experts have spoken out over inaccuracies and dangerous advice dispensed during the show and in Somers' book which was heavily promoted. From Newsweek

"I found the program to be quite shocking, and full of audacious claims, not substantiated by evidence," says Dr. Wulf Utian, a gynecologist and consultant at the Cleveland Clinic and founder of the North American Menopause Society, who has also worked as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. "Oprah is the most influential woman in the world, and I don't think she comprehends the amount of damage she has done to women's health. I came away feeling like Oprah really didn't understand the issue. Personally, I feel like she has set us back 100 years."

Winfrey's show has been under scrutiny from medical experts because of the large audience and respect she garners as well as the fact that just two weeks before Winfrey broadcast another show on on hormone therapy featuring Dr. Phil McGraw's wife, Robin, that many felt was also riddled with misinformation.

...it's not just clinicians who take issue with her recommendations that women follow a long-term high-dose hormone-replacement regime; the bulk of scientific research on the subject suggests that prolonged use of these hormones is associated with an increased risk of serious health conditions including cancer and heart disease.

The medical experts cited in the Newsweek article felt that Winfrey failed to present opposing information or to ask her any tough questions about her advice.

Menopause experts, including board-certified endocrinologists, have publicly criticized Somers's hormone theories calling them naive, misguided, and potentially dangerous. Winfrey, who has been known to ask some tough questions, didn't ask Somers about her public and hugely controversial insistence that breast cancer doesn't feed on estrogen, as most cancer researchers believe. (Somers tends to focus only on the minor studies that agree with her, rather than conclusions drawn after reviewing the bulk of the highest-quality studies.)

This is far from the final word on this subject and LifeTwo's advice is always to consult your medical professional, research what you can, challenge what you hear, and take care with your decisions. It is your body and there are a lot of authors, TV doctors, and (even) bloggers with their own agendas.