How strong is your vitamin knowledge?

True or False: Vitamin C can ward off a cold.

• The answer is False.

When researchers reviewed more than a decade’s worth of findings, they found that megadoses of Vitamin C don’t prevent colds for most people. Some studies suggest that it might help you get over the symptoms faster, but it won’t make them less severe.

Lisa Cimperman has a family history of high cholesterol and heart disease, so she knew she had to watch what she ate. But a few years ago she decided to take things a step further, when a routine test revealed that her cholesterol had crept up to 210 -- borderline high for a woman in her 30s who is otherwise pretty healthy. 

Cimperman, a clinical dietician at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, replaced nearly all of the lean meat in her diet with fiber-rich beans, chickpeas, lentils, and legumes.

A simple high-fiber diet can provide health benefits while being easier to stick with than a diet calling for multiple changes in eating habits, a new clinical trial concludes.

People who only added more fiber to their otherwise normal diet were able to lose weight, lower their blood pressure and reduce blood sugar levels -- all key to staving off diabetes and improving overall health.

They didn't lose quite as much weight as people following a more complex lifestyle diet recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA). But the study authors contend that their findings are encouraging for those daunted by complicated guidelines.