Can Vitamin B3 lower risk of skin cancer – new research
A Phase 3 Randomized Trial of Nicotinamide for Skin-Cancer Chemoprevention
At the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting for the Australasian College of Dermatologists, Professor Diona Damian, from the University of Sydney presented this exciting finding, that vitamin B3 will reduce the incidence of NMSC in high risk populations.
The treatment is cheap and well tolerated. The reduction was convincing 23% at the end of 12 months.
A simple oral dose of an active form of vitamin B3 may be the secret to stopping people with significant sun damage from developing some forms of skin cancer.
New research from the University of Sydney has found that a high dose of vitamin B derivative nicotinamide can prevent up to a quarter of non-melanoma skin cancers.
Nicotinamide is an active form of vitamin B3 that is commonly found in meat, fish, nuts and mushrooms, as well as some vegetables. Read more at ABC News
Whilst exiting, this was for high risk patients – those who have had multiple NMSC previously and not just for the general population, and it was not a large study 386 patients, nor of long duration 12 months, ie we just don’t know the long term side effects of nicotinamide.
In a breakthrough that could dramatically reduce the number of skin cancers, Professor Diona Damian and Professor Gary Halliday have found that vitamin B3, a nontoxic and inexpensive vitamin, has a range of anti-cancer effects just by being rubbed into the skin or taken as a pill. The vitamin helps to reduce existing precancerous skin lesions, reduced numbers of new non-melanoma skin cancers in a series of pilot studies, and may even help to prevent melanoma, one of Australia’s most deadly cancers.
Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world. If, as the researchers estimate, including vitamin B3 in sunscreen could prevent 50% of non-melanoma skin cancers, this research has the potential to dramatically improve skin cancer prevention. It can also help to heal existing precancerous lesions, and may even prevent melanoma and arsenic-induced skin cancer.
Read more at The Cancer Council
You can download the full report here
