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A common vitamin could help prevent the development of skin cancer, new research suggests.
The study, published in JAMA Dermatology, found a decreased risk of three types of skin cancer associated with the use of nicotinamide, which is a form of vitamin B3.
The research examined the health data of more than 33,000 veterans from 1999 to 2024, pulled from Veterans Affairs (VA) records.
COMMON DAILY VITAMIN SHOWN TO SLOW AGING PROCESS OVER FOUR-YEAR PERIOD
Patients who took nicotinamide were matched with similar patients who did not, based on characteristics like age, sex, race, skin cancer history and exposure to other treatments.
The researchers also considered whether patients had health conditions like an organ transplant history or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Among the study group, 12,287 patients were exposed to oral vitamin B3, at 500 mg twice daily for more than 30 days, and were compared to 21,479 patients who did not take it.
The researchers found that patients who took vitamin B3 had fewer skin cancers overall.
The risk of developing skin cancers — including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma — was reduced by about 14% in those exposed to the supplement.
The researchers also investigated the rate of skin cancer recurrence, noting that those who started taking nicotinamide right after their first skin cancer diagnosis had a 54% reduced risk of the disease coming back. The benefit was not as significant after being diagnosed with more than one skin cancer.
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Patients with organ transplants did not have a large difference in overall risk unless they began taking vitamin B3 early, which seemed to lower the risk of squamous cell carcinoma.
These results suggest a “decreased risk of skin cancer among patients treated with nicotinamide, with the greatest effect seen when initiated after the first skin cancer,” the researchers wrote.
In a recent JAMA Dermatology podcast episode, co-researcher Dr. Lee Wheless, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, discussed the link between skin cancer recurrence and nicotinamide exposure.
The doctor said he wouldn’t recommend that anyone who gets their first skin cancer diagnosis “immediately” starts taking nicotinamide, but that the findings have “shifted” his thinking.
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“If a patient has developed that field cancerization already, I really question — is this going to be as effective as if we had started before?” he asked. “I think we’re all really good at seeing that patient who has lots of [skin damage], they’ve had a couple skin cancers, and you just get this sense that they are teetering on the edge of exploding with a number of skin cancers.”
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“I think this really pushes me to say, we need to start now and not wait for you to have that sixth, seventh or more skin cancer before we start doing something preventive.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for comment.
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