ESPVitamin B3 may be the simple, over-the-counter secret to cutting future skin cancer risk. Since 2015, dermatologists have advised many patients with a history of skin cancer to consider taking nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3. That recommendation was based on a clinical trial involving 386 participants, which found that those who took nicotinamide developed fewer new cases of skin cancer compared with those who did not.
Until now, confirming those earlier findings in a much larger population has been difficult. Because nicotinamide is available over the counter, its use is rarely documented in medical records. To overcome that obstacle, researchers turned to the Veterans Affairs (VA) Corporate Data Warehouse, where nicotinamide is listed on the VA's official formulary.
Using these records, the research team reviewed the outcomes of 33,833 veterans who received baseline treatment with 500 milligrams of nicotinamide twice daily for more than 30 days. They tracked each patient's next diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
Among those studied, 12,287 patients had taken nicotinamide, while 21,479 had not. The researchers found a 14% overall decrease in skin cancer risk among nicotinamide users. For those who began taking the supplement after experiencing their first skin cancer, the risk reduction jumped to 54%. However, this benefit lessened when treatment began after multiple skin cancers had already developed. The effect was strongest for squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common nonmelanoma skin cancers.
Know more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251019120525.htm
