TAKING a cheap supplement could slash your risk of skin cancer by up to 50 per cent – and the effects can kick in in as little as a month, researchers say.
Non-melanoma skin cancer – which includes basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma – is the most common type of cancer in the UK.
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While it’s not as deadly as melanoma skin cancer, there’s less awareness around the signs and symptoms, which include shiny bumps or scaly patches of skin.
There are around 156,000 new non-melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK, and recent research showed that non-melanoma skin cancer deaths were on track to overtake melanoma deaths in England and Scotland for the first time.
Now, US researchers suggest taking a nicotinamide supplement may help cut the risk of non-melanoma cancer, especially in people who’ve had skin cancer before.
Nicotinamide is a form of vitamin B3, also known as niacinamide, sold over-the-counter as supplements.
Scientists from Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that nicotinamide reduced the risk of skin cancer by 14 per cent compared to those who didn’t take it.
The team looked at health data for 33,822 US veterans, 12,287 of whom took 500mg of nicotinamide twice daily for longer than 30 days; the rest didn’t take the supplements.
For people who’d already had skin cancer once before, the cheap supplement reduced their risk by 54 per cent.
The risk reduction was much larger for patients who’d had squamous cell carcinoma. They were 20 per cent less likely to develop skin cancer again.
But the protective effects petered off in people who’d been diagnosed with the cancer multiple times.
Researchers said nicotinamide has been recommended by dermatologists for people with a history of skin cancer since 2015, when a study of 386 participants showed that those who took the vitamin had fewer new skin cancers.
Dr Lee Wheless, assistant professor of Dermatology and Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Newsweek: “Our study had more than 60 times the number of patients [than] in the original 2015 study and was able to break it down by how many skin cancers a patient had had prior to starting nicotinamide, as well as control for a number of other risk factors.”
He explained that the study looked at the oral form of nicotinamide, which is different to another form of vitamin B3, niacin.
“In our study, we saw effects in those with as little as 30 days of exposure, though patients with longer exposures tended to have started after a greater number of skin cancers, so there are still unanswered questions as to the proper duration of treatment,” he said.
He reckoned nicotinamide was able to stop skin cancer from returning as it has the ability to improve DNA repair and slow new sun damage from accumulating.
Melanoma vs non-melanoma skin cancer
There are two main types of skin cancer – non melanoma skin cancer and melanoma skin cancer.
Non melanoma skin cancer includes:
- Basal cell skin cancer – this is also called basal cell carcinoma (BCC)
- Squamous cell skin cancer – this is also called squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
- Some other rare types
Non melanoma skin cancers tend to develop most often on skin that’s exposed to the sun. There is a high cure rate for these cancers.
Most people only have minor surgery and don’t need further treatment.
Melanoma skin cancer is when abnormal cells in the skin start to grow and divide in an uncontrolled way.
It starts in skin cells called melanocytes. These cells are in the deep layer of the epidermis.
Around 17,500 people are diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer in the UK each year. The number of people diagnosed has increased over the last few decades.
Melanoma skin cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK.
Signs of non-melanoma skin cancer
When you think of signs of skin cancer, a mole probably comes to mind.
This is usually the case with melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease.
But non-melanoma skin cancer – which includes BCC – can manifest in other more subtle ways.
According to Macmillan Cancer Support, a BCC might have some of these features:
- A smooth, firm lump that may be pearly, pink, red, brown or black – on black or brown skin, it is more likely to be pearly, brown or black
- A lump that is sunken in the middle like a crater
- A flat patch of scaly, crusty or irritated skin
- A scar-like area of pale, shiny skin
This type of skin cancer tends to be painless but it can cause itchiness or bleeding.
Meanwhile, an SCC might have some of these features:
- A scaly, raised, rough area of skin
- A lump that may look pink or red – on black or brown skin, it is more likely to be brown or black
- A hard, crusty scab.
SCCs may feel tender or bleed easily.
Source: Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support
“We hypothesise then that when patients have had only one or two skin cancers, this might be a proxy for lower overall sun damage, so slowing the rate of new DNA damage could slow the rate of new skin cancers,” he explained.
“Conversely, once a patient has developed multiple skin cancers and something that we call ‘field cancerisation’ where there is widespread damage and confluent areas of precancerous cells, it doesn’t take much more damage to develop a new skin cancer, and so the benefits of nicotinamide are not as great.”
Dr Yousuf Mohammed, a senior research fellow at the Frazer Institute at the University of Queensland, responded to the research, saying: “Nicotinamide, a simple vitamin B3 derivative, is showing real promise as a practical tool for skin cancer prevention.
“The greatest impact was seen in squamous cell carcinoma, where risk dropped by more than 20 per cent.
“Even more striking, patients who began nicotinamide after their very first skin cancer had risk reductions of nearly 50 per cent.”
Researchers said their findings show that skin cancer patients should be given the supplement to prevent it from coming back.
You should still be slathering on sun cream, staying out of the sun when it is hottest and wearing sun-protective clothing.
But researchers said nicotinamide can serve as “another tool” to prevent skin cancer.
Dr Wheless said: “There are no guidelines for when to start treatment with nicotinamide for skin cancer prevention in the general population.
“These results would really shift our practice from starting it once patients have developed numerous skin cancers to starting it earlier.”
Dr Yousuf Mohammed added: “These findings highlight that timing matters; starting earlier may be the key to stronger protection.
“For clinicians, the appeal of nicotinamide lies in its accessibility, safety, and tolerability.
“Unlike systemic retinoids or invasive field therapies, nicotinamide is inexpensive, over-the-counter, and free from significant side effects.
“Overall, these results reinforce what many dermatologists have long suspected, nicotinamide is an underutilised, low-risk intervention that can make a difference in reducing skin cancer burden, especially for patients with an early history of disease.”
