Dr. Oz and Autoimmune Arthritis Part I: Diet and Supplements are NOT a Cure.

Earlier in the year, the Dr. Oz show profiled the mother of a son diagnosed with JIA who sought out alternative medicine to treat his disease, eventually leading to a diagnosis of Leaky Gut Syndrome.  Susannah Meadows was asked to participate in the Dr. Oz show after a New York Times article, entitled The Boy With a Thorn in His Joints, was published about their story. 

In true Dr. Oz alarmist fashion, the promo for this episode introduced the topic with: “Why do doctors hate this woman?” and “When traditional medicine fails, does alternative medicine hold the cure?” 

Meadows sought out alternative medicine as primary treatment for her son, using dietary restrictions and supplements. The treatment regimen?

• No sugar, dairy, gluten. No potatoes or tomatoes
• Daily probiotics
• High doses of Omega-3’s
• Cherry juice
• An “ancient Chinese herbal concoction“ 

Doctors proposed this natural treatment alongside his modern medication, Methotrexate, for 6 weeks. He got worse before he got better, but at the end of the 6 weeks, the little boy was “cured.” At the time of the episode, the little boy had no pain and was on no medication. Meadows attributes his “cure” to the diets and supplements, despite his “cure” occurring after 6 weeks of Methotrexate.

I have a real problem with this. Not because of how Mrs. Meadows decided to treat her son, but how Dr. Oz Show used her story to create a link between JIA and Leaky Gut Syndrome, and push the idea that alternative medicine is a cure. To suggest that Autoimmune Arthritis can be cured with diet and supplements, especially when her son was on Methotrexate and achieved remission, is an egregious mistake.  How can Dr. Oz suggest modern medicine indeed failed when Mrs. Meadows’s son was on this modern medicine when he reached remission! 

If diet and supplements were a cure, we would not need biologics. I know many others who are following similar strict alternative treatments (myself included). They still have an incurable type of Autoimmune Arthritis. Her son still has JIA; he is in remission. Remission is not a cure.

Dr. Oz emphasizes the seriousness of “big gun” Methotrexate: the risks and side effects as a chemotherapeutic medication. However, he does not discuss the dosing of Methotrexate: Autoimmune patients inject (or take MTX orally) once a week at much lower doses than cancer patients. Though there are risks, Methotrexate is the go-to treatment for JIA/JRA/RA. Dr. Oz also failed to mention that patients who take Methotrexate are monitored regularly. Not surprising, considering that Dr. Oz is a cardiologist. Whether or not he is qualified to be linking Autoimmune Arthritis to Leaky Gut or making comments about Methotrexate use in autoimmune patients is up to you to decide.

Worse, Dr. Oz failed to emphasize the seriousness of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis at all! In fact, he fails to recognize that it is even a systemic autoimmune disease! There was no discussion about what an autoimmune disease is. There was ZERO discussion about things like disease outcome, rheumatoid factor, how to test for JIA, or the concept of remission. There was ZERO discussion of biologic medications.

Dr. Oz so elegantly paints the picture of this disease (which, at this point, is unclear: are we talking about JIA, or are we saying that JIA = Leaky Gut Syndrome? I’ll let you watch the clips and decide whether or not either condition is discussed appropriately). 

If you’ve got weeds growing in your back yard, which is how we as doctors think about these illnesses, these symptoms, theoretically you’d want to pour pesticides on it. But pesticide’s toxic […] I really think there are opportunities for us to focus in on why those weeds are growing. Stop fertilizing the weeds, you don’t need pesticides to kill ‘em”

Dr. Oz has a great point: there are opportunities to find out why these weeds (autoimmune diseases) are popping up. But leaky gut is not synonymous with Juvenile Idiopathic/Rheumatoid Arthritis. Not only does this idea harm Autoimmune Arthritis/JIA patients, but an entire spectrum of people with other autoimmune diseases (i.e., Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, IBD, Endometriosis).

They then bring in a GASTROENTEROLOGIST. If you’re going to do a show on Juvenile Idiopathic (Rheumatoid) Arthritis, you better bring in a rheumatologist. We already know that the earlier JIA is treated with aggressive medication, the faster and more likely children can reach remission. We already know that the risk of aggressive treatment is likely less than the risk of untreated JIA (Edward Giannini, MD). Of course, none of these scientific findings are discussed.

Dr. Oz’s tendency to delve into the world of pseudoscience and alarmist claims has earned him much criticism from fellow physicians and scientists. But how many of his viewers are science minded and know what to look for in a clinical study? How many of his viewers are empowered patients? No one should be taking medical advice from a daytime television doctor, but for viewers who may be feeling lost in their own path to a diagnosis or parents of sick children, it can be easy to fall into the trap.

For parents of children newly diagnosed with JIA or similar types of Autoimmune Arthritis, Dr. Oz has created so much confusion. Does my child really have Leaky Gut Syndrome? Diet and supplements, we can do that instead of the medications! 

Confusion, incomplete and poor information (not to mention pseudo science) is downright dangerous. To take a child with an aggressive disease off of medication that can potentially halt irreversible damage is dangerous. 

How sad is it to think that parents of newly diagnosed children who watch this episode may choose to abstain from appropriate treatment in hopes of a medical miracle cure that does not exist?

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