Michigan Dem Senate front-runner Dr. Abdul El-Sayed flogged wacky wares after saying Dr. Oz tries to sell people s they didnt need
WASHINGTON — Democratic Senate candidate Dr.Abdul El-Sayed has a history of promoting questionable health products on his podcast while accusing other health gurus of hawking similar gimmicks.El-Sayed — who polls show leading Michigan’s primary race ahead of state Sen.
Mallory McMorrow and Rep.Haley Stevens — made a stink about Dr.
Mehmet Oz during the latter’s Senate run in 2022, accusing him of trying to “sell people s— they didn’t need.”“He hasn’t been telling it like it is, he’s been telling it like some companies pay him to tell it like it is,” El-Sayed vented about Oz on the “Bad Faith” podcast in 2021.“He is, in fact, part of the same kind of medical industrial complex that exists to sell you things that you don’t need that are not actually based in any level of science,” he added.“Yet he can … say, ‘Well, I’m a doctor, so you should trust what I have to say.'”Around that same time, El-Sayed — a trained epidemiologist and future director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services in Wayne County, Mich.
— hosted a healthcare and politics-focused podcast titled “America Dissected,” which featured ads from at least 35 sponsors across 316 episodes.In March 2022, months after dissing Oz, El-Sayed was called out on social media for promoting Magic Spoon Cereal, a brand that advertises heavily on social media and podcasts.“I broadly reject any advertisements that are for products making claims about health,” El-Sayed replied in a since-deleted post on X.“Magic spoon [sic] is simply a high-protein, low-carb cereal.
They’re not claiming to improve your sleep or add years to your life, which is why I read them.”Despite vowing not to push products “making claims about health,” El-Sayed willingly read ads from companies whose sweeping claims have drawn skepticism from medical experts.On multiple episodes, El-Sayed touted the Lumen metabolic coach, a breathalyzer-style device that cl...