A simple Vitamin may help reduce skin cancer

The Australian ONTRAC (Oral Nicotinamide to Reduce Actinic Cancer) study involved 386 patients with an average age of 66, who had a history of at least 2 NMSC in the last 5 years. Patients were randomly allocated to receive either the vitamin or an inactive placebo, and underwent regular Dermatologist review every 3 months. The results showed that patients who took Nicotinamide 500 mg twice daily for 12 months showed a 23% reduction in new diagnoses of NMSC compared with those who took the placebo. Diagnoses of basal cell skin cancers were reduced by 20%, squamous cell cancers by 30% and precancerous sun spots (actinic keratoses) by 13%. During the study, the patients in the placebo group developed a median of 2.5 new skin cancers, compared to 1.77 in the Nicotinamide group. The benefit from Nicotinamide started to be seen at 3 months, but wore off quickly when patients stopped taking the vitamin. The authors speculated that Nicotinamide offered protection against skin cancer by working in two ways: enhancing the repair of DNA in skin cells damaged by sunlight, and preventing immune suppression in the skin by ultraviolet light. Although research shows the benefits of Nicotinamide in patients who have already had skin cancer, studies have not been done on the general population. So it’s still slip, slop, slap for the moment! Chen AC et al. A Phase 3 Randomized trial of Nicotinamide for Skin-Cancer Chemoprevention. N Engl J Med. 2015; 373(17):1618-26

A simple Vitamin may help reduce skin cancer

The Australian ONTRAC (Oral Nicotinamide to Reduce Actinic Cancer) study involved 386 patients with an average age of 66, who had a history of at least 2 NMSC in the last 5 years. Patients were randomly allocated to receive either the vitamin or an inactive placebo, and underwent regular Dermatologist review every 3 months. The results showed that patients who took Nicotinamide 500 mg twice daily for 12 months showed a 23% reduction in new diagnoses of NMSC compared with those who took the placebo. Diagnoses of basal cell skin cancers were reduced by 20%, squamous cell cancers by 30% and precancerous sun spots (actinic keratoses) by 13%. During the study, the patients in the placebo group developed a median of 2.5 new skin cancers, compared to 1.77 in the Nicotinamide group. The benefit from Nicotinamide started to be seen at 3 months, but wore off quickly when patients stopped taking the vitamin.

The authors speculated that Nicotinamide offered protection against skin cancer by working in two ways: enhancing the repair of DNA in skin cells damaged by sunlight, and preventing immune suppression in the skin by ultraviolet light. Although research shows the benefits of Nicotinamide in patients who have already had skin cancer, studies have not been done on the general population. So it’s still slip, slop, slap for the moment!

Chen AC et al. A Phase 3 Randomized trial of Nicotinamide for Skin-Cancer Chemoprevention. N Engl J Med. 2015; 373(17):1618-26