Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies during a Senate Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing on "Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Products, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 2014. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

NEW YORK, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The researchers who endorsed Dr. Mehment Oz's green coffee bean extract have retracted their study endorsing the pills, saying it was based on fake research.

The paper "Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects" was published in 2012 endorsing the pills.


Applied Food Sciences, Inc., the company that makes the green coffee ingredient used in the supplements, settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $3.5 million.

The researchers retracted the study after the pills came under close scruitiny.

"The sponsors of the study cannot assure the validity of the data so we, Joe Vinson and Bryan Burnham, are retracting the paper," they wrote.

Oz faced a congressional hearing on the validity of his claims about his "miracle" products after people were found who didn't lose weight with them.

"I don't get why you need to say this stuff, because you know it's not true," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Oz, who has had a loyal viewership on daytime television, has been called a dangerous fraud by his critics as people take his words as legitimate medical advice.