I used to think that Oprah Winfrey was doing good things in the world. Not so anymore. She has promoted so many bad things, like Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. Now she’s shilling for worthless apple cider vinegar supplements. I have no respect for someone who is richer than god but still chooses to make money by selling something that’s an absolute waste of money. Does she really not have better things she could be doing with her wealth and influence?
In conclusion, Oprah, you suck.
The woman owns a magazine and television network that is just about her.
No one is that interesting and I cannot fathom the mindset you’d have to possess to do that. That’s Trump level narcissism.
A columnist I used to read referred to it as “Oprah Winfrey’s O: The Oprah Magazine, featuring Oprah Winfrey”.
Well, there are other things she does with her wealth and influence in addition to what you’re Pitting her for.
My question (and it is a sincere one; I haven’t paid enough attention to Oprah to know): does she promote these people and things because she genuinely believes they’ll help people, or does she know they’re worthless? (Either way, criticism would be warranted, but different criticism.)
I agree that Oprah is heavily responsible for inflicting Dr. Oz on us and giving him celebrity status that’s enabling his current Senate race*, but it looks like the claim that she’s endorsing an apple cider vinegar weight loss product is bogus.**
*it’s past time for Oprah to come out against Oz for Senate, but don’t hold your breath.
**Apple cider vinegar and related products are indeed useless, except the vinegar would probably be acceptable as part of a salad dressing.
Most of the people I know that know her say that personally she is nice. However, her carbon footprint can be seen from Saturn. She’s building about a 60,000 square foot mansion in Telluride and she recently finished a 30,000’ one on Maui. A buddy’s company is doing all the masonry and she flew crews of Mexican mason from Telluride to Maui for a couple years to do the work. That’s pretty insane.
Taking a swig of apple cider vinegar while in the throes of acid reflux is a life saver. LIFE SAVER. But you don’t really need the fancy expensive stuff, the cheap store brand works for me.
If you find that chugging an acid helps a condition caused by (wait for it) acid, then who am I to say differently? 
I’ll let others do it (wow, three links).
Anecdotes of ACV worsening gastric reflux (and they exist) make a lot more physiologic sense than the reverse. But that’s part of the charm of ACV - in the eyes of its proponents it does pretty much everything (one of my favorite listings of purported ACV benefits includes both weight loss and weight gain).
The surgeon who did my sinus surgery explained to me how ACV, contains an enzyme(?) that helps to thin mucus. It’s concentrated in ACV because the apples are fermented with the skins on.
I used to use it when I was badly congested, with great effect.
(He also said, contrary to popular opinion, it will NOT cure disease or bring peace to the Middle East! HaHa!)
(He’s now the head of otolaryngology at the local teaching hospital!)
That’s good information—thank you! That makes her a tiny bit less bad. She does ads for Weight Watchers, which is maybe slightly more legit than the ACV.
I didn’t know about the Hawaii mansion. That’s bad. How many mansions does one person need? 
Eh, the concept makes sense. One thing you learn when you are diagnosed with GERD is that it’s not the level of acidity in your stomach that causes heartburn. It’s the reflux–the acid being where it shouldn’t be. The idea with apple cider vinegar (or other acids) is that increasing the acidity in your stomach can stimulate the lower esophageal sphincter to close, keeping the acids in the stomach where they belong.
But this only works if the acid levels in your stomach are lower than normal, which is not always the case. Plus, if your esophagus is already irritated and raw, any acid will irritate it further, causing pain. That’s why you have to avoid acidic foods early on while you get your GERD under control.
I don’t find it hard to believe that it works in some cases for some people. It’s the one thing that might make some level of sense. But there’s nothing special about it being apple cider vinegar.
Ha ha it’s fun to make fun of rubes who rub $20-per-bottle ACV on their feet to cure diabetes and stuff. I take a daily GERD medicine. I rarely ever have acid reflux. On the rare occasion when I forget myself and think it’s perfectly ok to have pepperoni pizza and wash it down with lemonade, and am standing in my kitchen at midnight feeing like I am absolutely going to die from whatever is burning me alive from the inside out, and choking on my burning bile spit, I am going to take a swig of my ACV and go back to bed to sleep peacefully, burning bile subsided, despite being not being Science Genius like yourself. And maybe I’ll do this 3 or 4 more times over the course of a year because it works, even though Doctor Smart Guy might be laughing at me for daring to try whatever works even if it involves salad dressing.
Oprah NICE? Hoo, boy, that’s not what I’ve always heard.
Anyway, my grandmother (1915-2007) read about cider vinegar being useful as an arthritis remedy in a supermarket tabloid back in the 1980s or so, and decided to try it. She would just put a spoonful in everything she made, and swore it worked.
She cooked a meal like this for my parents, and they couldn’t detect any difference in taste, if you’re curious.
GERD is nasty, so if an innocuous natural ingredient like ACV treats it, use it.
The part that doesn’t make sense is that in the vast majority of people with heartburn, stomach pH is normal - which means that it’s way more acidic than even undiluted apple cider vinegar (which few would find tolerable to chug). Median gastric pH has been measured at 1.5, compared to 2-3 for ACV, which means that gastric juices are up to 15 times more acidic than ACV (remember that pH is measured on a logarithmic scale). Drinking diluted ACV (which is what enthusiasts generally recommend) is even more futile an attempt at changing gastric pH. It’d be like adding a teaspoon of tapwater to a gallon of seawater to take away the salty taste.
A small minority of people with GERD may have a condition called achlorhydria, in which a component of gastric acid isn’t made and their gastric pH is above normal. But they have not been shown to benefit by having them drink acidic solutions.
Most likely, perceived benefit against GERD among heartburn sufferers drinking vinegar is based on temporary dilution of strong gastric acid refluxing up into the esophagus. Drinking water alone can do this. And water doesn’t have the potential of damaging your esophageal mucosa on the way down (normal esophagus pH is 7, or neutral, compared to the pH of 2-3 of acetic acid (vinegar).
Before we get too far afield, remember that Oprah has a history of promoting pseudoscience and quackery that goes well beyond Drs. Oz and Phil.
I’ve heard that she hates gum chewing and surprises!
(And I can imagine that after years of being catered to she’s lost a little bit of touch with her roots).
Not that it’s a justification, but when somebody goes from poverty to billionaire status, I sort of understand why they might embrace magical thinking. Of course, they are such an outlier that their own experience is hardly something that others should reasonably expect to emulate.
What’s illegitimate about Weight Watchers? I’ve never done it, but my understanding is it involved support groups and regular weigh-ins and lately it involves tracking what you eat and how many “points” it all has. Seems sensible to me. And, BTW, one reason she appears in the commercials is that seven years ago she bought a ten-percent stake in the company.
Nothing. I’ve been on WW for some time and while it’s not for everyone, it’s completely legit and above board.
Forty-two.
Weight watchers does have some issues and Oprah is mentioned in the video:
I watched the video and found it completely unconvincing. The main complaints by the video creator is based on their opinion rather than any clear evidence. The author bases her criticism on her personal opinion, and unsubstantiated risks. She quotes other people’s opinions without establishing their credentials or critically evaluating what they said.
The people who join WW are well aware of the weigh-ins, and she makes a huge point that weigh-ins are antithetical to healthy lifestyles. I think she’s way off on this.
Her criticism of the WW children’s program is potentially valid but presented without evidence and is clearly biased. This section of the video is perhaps the poorest of the whole thing. Her bullet points are still just her opinion and easily refutable. The data gathering portion has some validity, but she uses it as a launching point for unsupported accusations and insults that seem to stem from her personal history.
While I’m sure WW isn’t for everyone and no healthy diet plan is without criticism, I found this video to be poorly thought out and mainly supported by opinions based on the authors bias.