If you read this USA Today summary of a speech by Dr. William Willett, a noted professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, the answer posed in the rhetorical headline above would be a big no, largely based on "convincing evidence" from recent studies on the effect of dietary changes.
Of course, this flies in the face of evidence that many people outside America live longer, healthier lives because their diets include more whole foods and far fewer processed foods, chock full of health-harming omega-6 fats.
One point brought up in the USA Today piece does make some sense: The earlier you start eating properly, the better chance you have of preventing cancer. Some "experts" would have you believe, however, a switchover to better eating habits later on in our lives does nothing to lower those cancer risks.
But that supposition doesn't jive with the American Cancer Society whose conservative-as-can-be researchers have calculated a patient could lower his or her cancer risks by 62 percent, merely through simple lifestyle changes.
If you want to virtually eliminate your risk of cancer, you'll want to review my list of 11 major recommendations I posted last year.
USA Today June 6, 2006