Could Vitamin B Help Prevent Skin Cancer?

Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that certain vitamin supplements may help protect against skin cancers in people who are prone to the disease. More specifically, the study showed that a form of vitamin B3 yielded a 23 percent lower risk of developing skin cancers when compared to those who took placebos.

"It's a cheap vitamin ... one could be generous about starting it early if that's a preference," said Dr Peter Paul Yu, ASCO president and director of cancer research at Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data on nearly 400 volunteers for about a year, finding that "icotinamide reduced the risk of both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, otherwise known as the most common types of non-melanoma skin cancers, according to Reuters.

The average for the study participants "in the trial was eight cancers over the past five years; one patient had 52 cases," according to The New York Times. Furthermore, the vitamin was found effective just three months after the treatment started.

However, it seemed to stop not long after the patient stopped taking the vitamin, indicating a need to continue taking tablets for them to be effective.