Dr. Mehmet Oz has Kourtney Kardashian’s back! The celebrity doctor agrees with the reality TV star that typical candy — think lollipops, gummy candies and chocolate-covered treats — shouldn’t be consumed in excess.
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 40, made headlines in November 2019 when she butted heads with sister Kim Kardashian while the pair were planning a joint Candy Land-themed birthday party for their daughters, 7-year-old Penelope Disick and North West, 6.
The sibling squabble played out on an episode of KUWTK as Kim, 39, pushed for an ice cream truck and all the classic confections while Kourtney advocated for healthier options, insisting that candy causes aging and food coloring “gives people diseases.” Kim ultimately won the fight, and the girls’ June 2019 bash had an array of sweets.
“Simple carbohydrates and the chemicals they put in [candy] to make it taste better are untested. And so it’s not that they’re going to cause cancer, but why take a chance?” Oz, 59, told Us Weekly at the System 20 Fitness event in New York City earlier this month. “Your body’s not designed to digest those foods. Your body’s designed to digest real food.”
The Dr. Oz Show host defined “real food” as “food that comes out of the ground, looking the way it looks when you eat it.”
He continued: “That’s what we should be eating,” and noted that while he stays away from hard candies, his favorite sweet treat is “70 percent cocoa, real chocolate.”
For her part, Kourtney shared a list of her favorite candies in a Poosh post in November and included less damaging sweets that are lower in sugar and free of potentially harmful artificial dyes and sweeteners. Each confection, she wrote at the time, can be enjoyed without “feeling the guilt, bloat and sugar high of regular candy.”
Additionally, Oz also supported Kim (and Kourtney’s) decision to rid her house of all plastic bottles, which she confirmed during an in-depth tour of her kitchen and pantry earlier this month. While the medical professional explained that plastic bottles can only negatively affect your health if they’ve been in high heat, he acknowledged the environmental impact of the choice.
“The plastic is a catastrophe,” he said. “I know Kim, she’s on the show, and I respect her and I completely agree with her. At our house, there’s no plastic bottles. We have a water purification system on the sink.”
Added the Food Can Fix It author: “The health of the planet dramatically affects our health. Half that bottle of water you’re drinking is the oil to get it to you. The waste is not just the plastic.”
With reporting by Lexi Ciccone
