A cheap vitamin cut new skin cancers by 23 percent

Researchers at the University of Sydney tested whether that laboratory effect would hold up in people who had already had multiple skin cancers, giving high-risk patients either nicotinamide twice daily or a placebo for a year and counting every new cancer that appeared.

Among 386 patients with a history of at least two nonmelanoma skin cancers, those taking nicotinamide developed 23 percent fewer new skin cancers over the year than those on placebo, with a 30 percent reduction in squamous cell carcinomas specifically and fewer precancerous actinic keratoses as well.

Nicotinamide is not sunscreen and does not prevent sunburn, and the protection faded once patients stopped taking it, meaning the benefit only lasts as long as someone keeps taking the pill. It is inexpensive and available without a prescription, which has made it a common add-on recommendation for dermatology patients at high skin cancer risk, alongside sunscreen rather than instead of it.

A vitamin pill cut new skin cancers in those most at risk.