I hear from lots of people every day who are concerned about how their diet is affecting their health.

They need answers based on facts, in other words, from the peer-reviewed medical literature, and that is what I'm here for.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger. Today we have the second in our two-part series on

anti-aging creams and we start with a look at Niasinamide, also known as

Nicotinamide a form of Vitamin B3.

I've talked about sunscreen and topical retinoids.

What other skin cream components have been shown to help with skin aging?

While placebo-controlled trials are the standard in most medical research, they're still all too rare for cosmetic products.

This raises efficacy questions. Many are left with simply buying hope in a jar, as well as safety concerns.

Cosmetics to this day contain an array of toxic chemicals.

Of the more than 12,000 synthetic chemicals used in cosmetics,

fewer than 20% have been recognized as safe. Of course this doesn't mean natural ingredients

are necessarily harmless. Poison ivy is as natural as you can get, but you wouldn't want

to rub it on your face. However, there are some relatively safe

natural options with varying degrees of efficacy. In contrast to retinolic acid, a form of

vitamin A that can be irritating, topical niacinamide, also known as nicotinamide, is a form of

vitamin B3 that is non-irritating and found to be effective.

It's been described as one of the best studied cosmaceutical ingredients for anti-aging.

But it looks like there are only two placebo-controlled human studies, which gives you an idea of the state of cosmiseutical science.

Skin photo ageing is largely mediated by UV-induced free radical formation.

One of the consequences of excess sun exposure is the oxidation of sugars and proteins in the skin into yellow-brown pigments that give aging skin a yellowing sallow appearance.

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