Food "fairy dust," ER crowding, and a clueless hospital CEO: The ReportingonHealth Daily Briefing

Here's what we're reading and watching today:

Research: Poor meta-analyses: they're often bashed for mashing together a bunch of studies that don't really belong together, leading to suspect conclusions. Current Medicine TV features an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality researcher talking about how the federal  agency decides which meta-analyses are good and which are junk.  

Nutrition: Why we shouldn't care (and journalists shouldn't report) which food has more "fairy dust" (aka antioxidants), according to White Coat Underground blogger Dr. Peter Lipson in a post at Forbes.com.

Emergency Rooms: Ezra Klein looks at a new Health Affairs study examining where Americans get their care for acute illnesses (hint: too much of it's in the ER). What's happening in your local emergency room?

Clueless: The Health Care Blog's Matthew Holt discusses the story of a hospital CEO who, in an egregious misunderstanding of health reform, told employees that if they were obese, they'd need to lose weight or be out of a job. (Check out the very funny video at the end.)

Defensive Medicine: GoozNews' Merrill Goozner argues that there are some major holes in a new study suggesting that defensive medicine is responsible for only about 2.4 percent of the nation's health care spending.