by germainebull » 31 Oct 2025, 03:53
Preventing skin cancer has always been an ongoing battle, but a glimmer of hope seems to have emerged unexpectedly! Since 2015, dermatologists have been advising patients with a history of skin cancer to try nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3. This advice was based on a small clinical study at the time.
The big question: Are these findings applicable on a larger scale?
This has always been the biggest challenge. Because nicotinamide is available over the counter, there was no clear medical record that would allow researchers to track its effectiveness in a large number of people. But a team of researchers found a solution!
The solution: A wealth of data!
To overcome this obstacle, the researchers turned to a wealth of health data from the U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital system, where the medical records of 33,833 patients who regularly took this supplement were tracked.
The results were remarkable and encouraging!
After analyzing the data, researchers found that:
* The overall risk of developing skin cancer decreased by **14%** among nicotinamide users.
* But the most striking figure is that those who started taking the supplement **immediately after their first skin cancer diagnosis** saw a remarkable **54%** reduction in risk!
* The effect was strongest against one of the most common non-melanoma skin cancers.
When to start? That's the key!
"Currently, there are no specific guidelines for when to start nicotinamide therapy for skin cancer prevention in the general population," says Dr. Lee Wills, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and the study's lead author. "But these findings will completely change our practice; from starting it after multiple cancers have developed to starting it at an earlier stage. We still need to identify which patients will actually benefit, as only about half of patients develop multiple tumors."
What about organ transplant patients?
The team also studied a group of patients who had undergone organ transplants and had compromised immune systems. In this group, the overall reduction in risk was not statistically significant, but early use of the supplement was associated with fewer cases of squamous cell carcinoma.
Takeaway:
This large study not only confirms the effectiveness of this readily available and relatively safe supplement, but also illuminates the path toward a smarter prevention strategy. It reminds us that great discoveries in medicine don't always come in the form of complex drugs; sometimes they lie in rediscovering and proving the effectiveness of what we already have, giving hope to millions of people in preventing one of the world's most common cancers.
Preventing skin cancer has always been an ongoing battle, but a glimmer of hope seems to have emerged unexpectedly! Since 2015, dermatologists have been advising patients with a history of skin cancer to try nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3. This advice was based on a small clinical study at the time.
The big question: Are these findings applicable on a larger scale?
This has always been the biggest challenge. Because nicotinamide is available over the counter, there was no clear medical record that would allow researchers to track its effectiveness in a large number of people. But a team of researchers found a solution!
The solution: A wealth of data!
To overcome this obstacle, the researchers turned to a wealth of health data from the U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital system, where the medical records of 33,833 patients who regularly took this supplement were tracked.
The results were remarkable and encouraging!
After analyzing the data, researchers found that:
* The overall risk of developing skin cancer decreased by **14%** among nicotinamide users.
* But the most striking figure is that those who started taking the supplement **immediately after their first skin cancer diagnosis** saw a remarkable **54%** reduction in risk!
* The effect was strongest against one of the most common non-melanoma skin cancers.
When to start? That's the key!
"Currently, there are no specific guidelines for when to start nicotinamide therapy for skin cancer prevention in the general population," says Dr. Lee Wills, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and the study's lead author. "But these findings will completely change our practice; from starting it after multiple cancers have developed to starting it at an earlier stage. We still need to identify which patients will actually benefit, as only about half of patients develop multiple tumors."
What about organ transplant patients?
The team also studied a group of patients who had undergone organ transplants and had compromised immune systems. In this group, the overall reduction in risk was not statistically significant, but early use of the supplement was associated with fewer cases of squamous cell carcinoma.
Takeaway:
This large study not only confirms the effectiveness of this readily available and relatively safe supplement, but also illuminates the path toward a smarter prevention strategy. It reminds us that great discoveries in medicine don't always come in the form of complex drugs; sometimes they lie in rediscovering and proving the effectiveness of what we already have, giving hope to millions of people in preventing one of the world's most common cancers.
