Cutting calories can not only help you lose weight, but researchers have shown it may also cut your chances of skin cancer. Laboratory experiments at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center demonstrate that eating less may lessen release of growth factors in skin that stimulate cancerous growths.

In contrast, the research also shows overeating increases the risk of cancer.

"(Our) results, while tested in a (laboratory) model of skin cancer, are broadly applicable to epithelial cancers in other tissues," said researcher John DiGiovanni, Ph.D. Epithelial cancers, which include skin cancers, grow in the tissue that lines the surfaces and cavities of the body’s organs. They comprise 80 percent of all cancers.