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Vitamin B3 is an essential vitamin needed by the body to stay healthy and is found in many different plants, meats, and supplements. There are multiple forms of vitamin B3, including niacin and niacinamide. Niacinamide is used as an ingredient in hair loss treatments due to claims that it supports hair follicle growth.
Key insights:
- The in vitro/ex vivo evidence suggests that niacinamide may enhance hair growth by preventing oxidative stress-induced cell senescence and premature entry into the catagen stage of the hair follicle cycle. However, other in vitro studies claim that niacinamide does not stimulate hair follicle growth based on the fact that niacinamide has not been shown to induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels, which is a key growth factor involved in growth around the body and the hair follicle.
- The clinical evidence shows that although niacinamide-treated hair follicles have the potential to increase hair thickness, there is no evidence to show that it increases hair follicle growth.
- Topical niacin derivatives were suggested to improve hair fullness in female pattern hair loss. However, this outcome wasn’t measured using quantifiable means.
- Our experience tracking members: niacin/niacinamide by itself is not enough to improve hair loss outcomes.
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