Research Summary:
Niacinamide is vitamin B3, an essential nutrient. In the body, it is converted to the co-factors NADH and NADPH, which are involved in many biochemical reactions. Dietary deficiency of this water-soluble member of the vitamin B family causes pellagra, a disease that includes dermatitis and red lesions. Pellagra caused thousands of deaths in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, until simple dietary supplementation with this absorbable vitamin was found to cure the disorder.
NAD+ and NADPH levels in skin cells decline with age. Thus, supplementing skin with the precursor to these vital co-factors has the potential to provide appearance benefits to aging skin. Since niacinamide penetrates the skin’s surface readily, it is bioavailable from topical application for targeted delivery to specific skin sites. Clinical evaluations of topical formulations containing this vitamin have identified a wide range of skincare benefits. Among the many cosmetic effects for skin are reductions in the appearance of hyperpigmented spots, redness, yellowing (sallowness), surface sebum, pore size, surface texture, and fine lines and wrinkles. Additionally, there are improvements in moisturization, stratum corneum barrier integrity, and elasticity.
Further clinical evaluations have found that specific combinations of niacinamide with other cosmetic skincare ingredients can provide an even greater magnitude of appearance benefits. Dermatological effects of topical niacinamide have also been observed in human testing, such as improvements in acne and bullous pemphigoid. A more recent evaluation demonstrated that topical niacinamide can provide appearance benefits in rosacea patients by improving skin barrier properties. The effect on the skin barrier also highlights the ability of this vitamin, when applied topically prior to, or with, topical retinoids, to increase the skin’s tolerability to retinoid treatment and enhance the visible improvement of photodamaged skin.
This brief review chapter will focus on only a few of these skin appearance effects: surface sebum, pore size, surface texture, hyperpigmentation, and fine lines and wrinkles. In particular, new mechanistic insights underlying niacinamide’s effects on skin appearance and enhanced visible improvements when combined with other ingredients will be highlighted.
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