Did Dr. Oz promote a weight-loss "coffee trick" endorsed by Adele? No, that's not true: A viral video making the claim utilized AI-generated sound. Lead Stories found no evidence confirming that Dr. Oz ever promoted this "coffee trick" or that Adele ever endorsed it.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on the page named "Transforming Women" on April 14, 2024. The closed-caption line in the video began:
Singer Adele broke the internet.
A description of a link attached to the post under the video continued:
Every Woman Is Doing The 'Coffee Trick' In 2024.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Apr 24 15:13:07 2024 UTC)
The post on Facebook aimed to trick people into believing it was an authentic recent episode of "The Dr. Oz Show." However, that talk show came to an end more than two years before the claim's publication date. The last episode of "The Dr. Oz Show" aired (archived here) on January 14, 2022. Therefore, that program couldn't have contained discussion about something "every woman is doing" in 2024.
Furthermore, the voiceover ruminating for more than two minutes about the purported wonders the "coffee trick" could do never explained what it was. Yet, the last seconds of the video urged people to act fast -- "before they're going to charge $297 just to watch this video."
At times, the audio was out of sync with the movements of Dr. Oz's lips (for example, at the 0:26 mark).
Three out of five models used in the AI-detection tool DeepFake-O-Meter, maintained by the University of Buffalo, showed an extremely high likelihood that the sound in the video was machine-generated:
(Source: DeepFake-O-Meter screenshot taken on Wed April 24 15:14:31 2024 UTC)
A longer video of "The Dr. Oz Show" (archived here) from the program's 12th season that opened with a shot of him standing in front of the same banner of Adele confirms that he did not discuss the "coffee trick" in the episode about the singer's weight loss.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim. A search for the same terms across the websites indexed by Google News led to an article about Adele (archived here) that didn't mention Dr. Oz or a "coffee trick." Instead, it summarized the singer's previous interviews, concluding:
Adele's weight loss is primarily due to her fitness routine.
The link seen below the post on Facebook led to another website (archived here) telling people to watch a video about the "coffee trick." The click button would eventually bring a person to the third website, (archived here) with a long video without rewinding options. That video promised that the "trick" would work on everyone without any additional effort. Under the video, a person would see a list of what was described as "scientific references."
Only the Affiliates tab (archived here) contained an explicit reference to a particular product, Java Burn, and promised "75% commission" to those who would register to digitally advertise it.
Java Burn (archived here) appeared to be a powder described on its website as "a tasteless, instantly dissolvable nutritional formula that works with coffee to boost metabolism and support overall health, energy and well-being." The page went on to claim that it's "100% 100% natural, safe and effective" but never revealed the exact list of this powder's ingredients or cited any scientific research proving that this particular formula is capable of delivering safe weight loss.
The Java Burn website showed a disclaimer (archived here):
Users of the Website (individually and collectively, 'User') expressly agree that use of the Website is at User's sole risk. Neither JavaBurn , nor its employees or Providers, warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted or error-free; nor do they warrant or make any representation regarding the use of the information provided on the Website or the results that may be obtained from the use of the information provided on the Website, or as to the accuracy, reliability, or currency of any information, content, service, or merchandise provided through the Website. JavaBurn does not endorse, recommend, or sponsor and is not affiliated with any individuals or entities listed or linked to on the Website unless that fact is expressly stated. The listing of any individual or entity does not constitute a medical referral of any kind. Users are advised to exercise their own further informed review, judgment, and evaluation in the selection of any and all medical professionals and health information.
On TrustPilot, Java Burn 97 percent of reviewers gave this product one star (archived here).
As of this writing, the page that posted the video in question on Facebook ran 18 ads promoting the same clip:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Apr 24 15:43:40 2024 UTC)
The page's self-description, initially written in Spanish, said that it was a "fan club" of "one of the best Argentine gamers." As translated by DeepL, the intro finished with a call to "subscribe to my channel if you are not subscribed."
All of the above fits the description of weight-loss scams the Federal Trade Commission (archived here) explicitly warns about, with the agency giving its response to claims in parentheses:
Dishonest advertisers will say just about anything to get you to buy their weight loss products. Here are some of the false promises you'll often see in weight loss ads:
- Lose weight without dieting or exercising. (You won't.)
- You don't have to watch what you eat to lose weight. (You do.)
- If you use this product, you'll lose weight permanently. (Wrong.)
- To lose weight, all you have to do is take this pill. (Not true.)
- You can lose 30 pounds in 30 days. (Nope.)
- This product works for everyone. (It doesn't.)
- Lose weight with this patch or cream. (You can't.)
Other Lead Stories fact checks discussing false health-related claims can be found here.
