Niacinamide is a Vitamin B3 which is known to help with DNA repair. It is a bit confusing when you read the literature, as many studies are done using the name nicotinamide, which is actually the same compound and the names are used interchangably. Niacinamide /nicotinamide is widely recognized to help in skincare to reduce redness and strengthen the skin barrier. It is also thought to play a role in cellular energy production, DNA repair, and overall metabolic function.
You can take Vitamin B3 orally, but what I am focused on here is the skin health benefits from applying it topically, particularly in the prevention of sun damage and eventual skin cancers. Most skin cancers occur on the face and neck, so doing these treatments locally where you are at greatest risk makes sense. But does topical work?
This is an old study, which looked at sun damage causing skin cancers, what they call “photocarcinogenesis.” They did this study in mice, where they looked to see if topical niacinamide would prevent immunosuppression and skin cancer in UV irradiated mice. Nutrition and Cancer, published 1997, “Prevention of photoimmunosuppression and photocarcinogenesis by topical nicotinamide.” Their theory is that UVB hurts your suppression system in your skin which prevents tumor growths. They postulate that niacinamide / nicotinamide will prevent that suppression.
Study:
- UV irradiation, 5 weekly 30 minute exposures.
- Niacinamide was applied to the skin.
- Findings? In the treated mice, niacinamide reduced skin tumor incidence from 75% to 42%.
My thoughts?
The benefit of Vitamin B3 is known throughout the literature. I was surprised when I started carrying niacinamide a few years ago that it hasn’t been a key staple for longer. All of these great supportive studies were done decades ago. I think the issue was there was not an easy topical to use, but now there is.
I carry a 15% topical niacinamide serum. I use it daily every morning to help with DNA repair and UV defense. You will see niacinamide in many products touted for its anti-redness and reduction in hyperpigmentation qualities, but I think its best quality is the repair of UV damage in the skin. Not only does that make the skin look and age better, it prevents non melanoma skin cancers.
Medical studies:
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