Vitamin B3 for skin cancer prevention

Posted on Sun, 14 Feb 16

In high risk people vitamin B3 supplements were able to reduce the risk of new skin cancers by 23%, meaning this safe, inexpensive vitamin is a worthwhile preventative strategy. 

Skin cancers are the most common cancer globally and mainly affect people with lighter skin.

Non-melanoma skin cancers are mostly caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun. The two main types of non-melanoma skin cancers are Basal-cell and Squamous-cell carcinomas. Squamous-cell carcinomas may develop from premalignant actinic keratosis, a pre cancerous patch of crusty, thick, or scaly skin.

Previous investigations have explored the effect of vitamin B3 (as nicotinamide) as a preventative for non-melanoma skin cancers with research showing it may help prevent UV-induced cancer by reducing immune suppression, improving cellular energy and enhancing DNA repair. 

Human clinical studies have also been promising, with an earlier study showing a reduction in actinic keratosis of up to 35% in Australian’s with sun-damaged skin within just 4-months. 

Building on this promising research a year-long study has revealed that nicotinamide also reduces the rates of new non-melanoma skin cancers. In the study people who had had at least two non-melanoma skin cancers in the previous 5 years took 500 mg of nicotinamide, or placebo, twice daily. 

Nicotinamide reduced the rate of new non-melanoma skin cancers by 23% compared to placebo. For individual cancers new basal-cell carcinomas were 20% lower and new squamous-cell carcinomas were 30% lower after 12-months. The number of actinic keratoses was also 13% lower. 

“In conclusion, among high-risk patients, nicotinamide was associated with a lower rate of new non-melanoma skin cancers than was placebo and had an acceptable safety profile,” commented the study investigators. “Nicotinamide is widely accessible as an inexpensive over-the-counter vitamin supplement and presents a new opportunity for the chemoprevention of non-melanoma skin cancers that is readily translatable into clinical practice.” 

Reference:  

Chen AC, Martin AJ, Choy B, et al. A Phase 3 Randomized Trial of Nicotinamide for Skin-Cancer Chemoprevention. N Engl J Med. 2015 Oct 22;373(17):1618-26.