When NBC’s Katie Couric put colon cancer awareness on the map by having a colonoscopy done on the Today show, Pochapin was her family specialist. The gastroenterologist cared for Couric’s late husband and is now Medical Director of the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health, which is dedicated to her husband’s memory. In this practical, conversational volume, the doctor contends that, when found early, colorectal cancer can be cured 90 percent of the time. He gives a comprehensive overview of the disease, detailing its causes and risk factors as well as the foods and life-style changes that can help prevent it. For those already diagnosed, Pochapin also provides an easy-to-follow guide to surgery and treatment options, clinical trials and recent advances in research. (Handy explanatory charts throughout the book help readers to digest all this information.) Above all, however, Pochapin champions colonoscopy screenings. "Please don’t let your apprehension, anxiety or embarrassment rule your common sense," he pleads; colonoscopy screenings are the best weapon against America’s second deadliest cancer. Unlike a mammogram or PAP smear, the test can both discover and remove cancer-causing polyps before they become problematic—yet most patients undergo the test too late to take advantage of its extraordinary effectiveness. An estimated 150,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year alone, and 57,000 of them will die from it. This clear, compassionate book is an invaluable all-in-one resource for those who want to prevent, or are currently confronting, the disease.

You believe fiber is a health food. Fiber Menace tells you otherwise.

Fiber has zero nutritional value. It contains no vitamins, minerals, or microelements, and it’s indigestible to boot. All of fiber’s make-believe health benefits are related to five of its prominent qualities: "water absorbency," "bulk," "roughage," "fermentation," and "laxative" effect. All five are behind fiber’s primary goal in human nutrition: the prevention and treatment of constipation. In reality, here is what actually takes place:

Water absorbency causes fiber to expand. While the whole point and purpose of chewing and digestion is to reduce food particles to the barest minimum and liquefy them for easy passage through the digestive tract, fiber does the complete opposite—it balloons four to five times its original size and weight, and congregates into large lumps. Can that be any good for you? Well, it's just as good as swallowing food without chewing.

Bulk means that fiber makes stools large and heavy. How heavy? About four to five times as heavy, or as much as the amount of water it can absorb and retain. Can that be any good for you? It's just about as good as swallowing apples whole. Large objects tend to get stuck inside passageways, be it an apple inside the mouth, or bulky stools inside the colon. That’s why so many children and adults suffer from chronic constipation.

Roughage means that fiber makes stools rough. Rough enough to cause diverticular and hemorrhoidal diseases, anal tears, and crimson blood streaks on passing stools. So rough, in fact, that many toddlers fed high-fiber diets refuse to move their bowels because of pain, and eventually have to be "manually disimpacted" (meaning the impacted stools must be removed by hand, under anesthesia, by a surgeon or specially-trained nurse).

Excessive fermentation causes pain and suffering. Gases and acid are the byproducts of fiber’s bacterial fermentation, which causes bloating, flatulence, and abdominal pain, and are the "driving forces" behind IBS, diverticular disease, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. That’s why doctors prescribe antibiotics to wipe out bacteria. Unfortunately, once the bacteria are gone, constipation becomes even worse, and doctors recommend even more fiber.

The laxative effect is particular to soluble fiber, also known as "mucilage." It’s based on the fact that once inside the intestines, soluble fiber blocks water absorption (along with essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, of course), and this causes diarrhea. Of course, consuming foods that have laxative effects can’t be good for either irritable bowel syndrome or colitis, because diarrhea is one of its main outcomes.

From initial diagnosis to the latest treatments, this encouraging, authoritative guide explores everything you need to know to make informed choices about colon cancer care. You'll learn how colon cancer develops, what to expect from diagnostic tests, and how to choose the best doctors and treatment centers. Here's invaluable information on:

• Which treatment options work best for different phases of colon cancer
• How to cope with physical and emotional side effects
• Tips on resuming a healthy lifestyle
• Related disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

MARIAN BETANCOURT is the author of What to Do When Love Turns Violent, and coauthor of Chronic Illness and the Family and What to Do If You Get Breast Cancer. Ms. Betancourt lives in Brooklyn, New York.

"That was terrific!" While not what you would expect to hear after a colonoscopy, these were the first words out of my husband's mouth as he woke up from this somewhat inconvenient procedure a few weeks ago, which he and I had postponed as long as possible. Howls of laughter burst forth from the nurses and others present in the recovery room. Nonetheless, the words revealed my husband's shock and delight that the dreaded procedure began and ended so imperceptibly and so painlessly.

"That was terrific!" would also be my assessment of this little book. While there is nothing sexy about the prospect of reading a book about cancer, my middle age, my weight, my family history, and personal medical history nearly demanded that I inform myself. The previous reviews for amazon.com have focused repeatedly on Dr. Adrouny's gift for making a boring, technical, and frightening subject accessible to the non-medical public through very readable text, references, and glossary, as well as lucid diagrams. I would echo all of those comments nearly verbatim. Anyone in the field knows that teaching science to non-science majors is more difficult than teaching it to those committed to the subject. You have to engage them first, and then inform them. Dr. Adrouny succeeds brilliantly in his chapters such as "Who Gets Colon Cancer and Why," "The `Look'...," "The `Feel'...," the stages, the prognosis, the treatment, prevention and future of colon cancer.

For me, however, Dr. Adrouny's greater gift is the art of gentle persuasion. He informs but does not preach. Who wants to go to the doctor and be ordered to go and lose 30 pounds? My husband was spurred to action by Dr. Adrouny, and now it's my turn. My colonoscopy is in two months. When will you sign up? (As he points out, there is usually a wait.) Read the book while you are waiting. Meantime, I am wondering if perhaps Dr. Adrouny's next book should be, "Understanding Extra Pounds."

From America's leading cancer authority comes a patient's advocacy book for colorectal cancer patients--and their families--that offers medical expertise, practical advice, and emotional support.

Colon and rectal cancers (or colorectal cancer) affect more and more people each year and account for about 11 percent of all new cancer cases and 10 percent of all cancer-related deaths. More than 95,000 new cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in 1998 alone. Recognizing that there is a 92 percent survival rate if these diseases are treated early, the American Cancer Society, the nation's leader in cancer research, education, and rehabilitation, and Dr. Bernard Levin, one of America's preeminent physicians and an expert on colon and rectal cancer, now offer the most comprehensive resource for patients and their families to turn to.

This book contains the most up-to-date information about these related diseases--from basic facts about what to do when confronted with a diagnosis of colon or rectal cancer to the latest medical data, treatments, and procedures. But more important, this book considers the patient's perspective, providing psychological and emotional support for patients through case histories and anecdotes they can relate to. Moreover, the American Cancer Society's Colorectal Cancer provides easy recipes and a diet plan to help alleviate stress on the body. This important new book addresses the full range of issues that colorectal cancer patients and their families may face.

Elaine Magee gives you all the information you can never seem to understand when the doctor rattles it off, and she answers all the questions you ever wanted to ask a dietitian about preventing colon cancer. You will find a host of specific recommendations-what to eat, what to avoid, and how to incorporate these changes into your lifestyle.

Tell Me What to Eat to Help Prevent Colon Cancer begins with an overview of colon cancer in all its forms. Readers get a detailed yet completely understandable explanation of how the cancer begins and how it spreads-an explanation that is based on the latest medical information. Readers gain a better understanding of what colon cancer is and what actions they can take now to help prevent it.

Also included are dozens of healthful, practical, tasty recipes focusing on fiber, and power produce items that anyone can incorporate in their diet.

"This book will save many lives, possibly yours or that of a loved one—it arms readers with all the information they need to become informed health-care consumers and protect their own health." Robert Tufft, M.D., Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine

Colon Cancer & the Polyps Connection is the first-and only book exploring the causes, cures and prevention of colorectal cancer. Gives you all of the facts you need to make the right decisions concerning your health—especially prevention.

Yearly, over one-million North Americans are found to have polyps (colorectal cancer develops from polyps)—and 150,000 of those are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. About 1 in 3 people over age 50 have polyps and 56,000 North Americans die annually from colon cancer—more than from breast or prostate cancers!

In this guide, author Stephen Fisher, a colorectal cancer survivor, tells how he waged a personal and logical assault on this disease, condensing daily journal entries of his feelings and fears, including his ordeals of searching for answers, finding doctors, enduring treatments and finally, how he faced his own mortality.

Fisher shares what he learned from his own exhaustive study and his participation in a $25-million, government-funded study—the PPT, or Polyp Prevention Trial—which focuses on prevention and diet.

This comprehensive guide includes terms, procedures, treatments, medical facts and data from The American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute. Plus complete chapters on fat, fiber, fruits, vegetables, and the Computer-Assisted Diet Assessment created by the PPT!

This volume covers recent research on all aspects of colon cancer prevention, including normal and abnormal colonic development, chemoprevention of colon cancer, the role of dietary factors in prevention, experimental approaches and mechanisms in prevention, as well as whether cell proliferation and apoptosis is the link between relative risk and prevention. Topics include: transcriptional regulation in intestinal development; colonic cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis; defects in the regulation of beta-catenin in colorectal cancer; dietary lipids, inflammation, and colon cancer; sulindac sulfone-induced regression of rectal polyps in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis; prevention of colon cancer and modulation of aberrant crypt foci; cell proliferation and apoptosis by retinoids and NSAIDs; mechanisms by which energy restriction inhibits carcinogenesis; dietary intervention studies of colorectal cancer; the genetics of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer and non-polypotic colon cancer; familial association; colonic cell proliferation and apoptosis in rodent species; and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), cyclooxygenase and the cell cycle and their interactions in cancer.