Nicotinamide, a vitamin B3 derivative, could significantly reduce skin cancer risk. The corresponding study was published in JAMA Dermatology.
"There are no guidelines for when to start treatment with nicotinamide for skin cancer prevention in the general population,” said the study's corresponding author, Lee Wheless, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Dermatology and Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in a press release.
“These results would really shift our practice from starting it once patients have developed numerous skin cancers to starting it earlier,” he added.
For the study, researchers analyzed health records from close to 34,000 veterans. Just over a third of patients took 500 mg nicotinamide twice daily for over 30 days. The remaining patients were unexposed to the drug.
Ultimately, the reserachers found an overall 14% lower risk of skin cancer among nicotinamide users. Risk reduction rose to 54% however among those who began taking the supplement after experinccing their firs skin cancer. The effects were strongest among those with squamous cell carcinoma- one of the most common forms of nonmelanoma skin cancers.
Benefits from taking the supplement reduced after multiple skin cancers had already been developed. They further noted that takling the supplement did not produce a statistically significant effect on patients who were immunocompromised fue to solid organ transplants.
“The results of this cohort study suggest that there is a decreased risk of skin cancer among patients treated with nicotinamide, with the greatest effect seen when initiated after the first skin cancer,” concluded the researchers in their study.
Sources: Science Daily, JAMA Dermatology
