★★★★★
Earlier in the year I had been using a homemade Vitamin B3 cream to clear my eczema. In the last two or three months I have switched to taking this internally instead. I found that if I take 500mg of B3 orally twice a day then this is sufficient to clear any eczema from my body. Taking it this way has been working very nicely for me. Much better to assist the body through nutrition than to whack the immune system into submission with an immune suppressant.
I'm finding taking it internally is a bit more reliable than using a cream. My body is still prone to various forms of inflammation (eg. rhinitis, proctitis, prostatitis) and I am gradually finding better ways of dealing with each problem. So with that in mind, I think it is sensible to treat this problem systemically, as there is a possibility that it will address some systemic issue.. and who knows, maybe it will knock out the root cause whatever that may be.
== Abstracts, Quotes, Etc ==
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinamide Skin conditions
Nicotinamide has demonstrated anti-inflammatory actions that may be of benefit to patients with inflammatory skin conditions.[4] These conditions include acne vulgaris, and the compound can suppress antigen-induced, lymphocytic transformation and inhibit 3', 5'-cyclic-AMP phosphodiesterase. Nicotinamide has demonstrated the ability to block the inflammatory actions of iodides known to precipitate or exacerbate inflammatory acne.
This research shows that B3 can the effectiveness of neutrophil immune cells by up to 1000 times
Title: C/EBPe mediates nicotinamide-enhanced clearance of Staphylococcus aureus in mice
Source: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/62070?key=a39ce7efc2f764ede04
The myeloid-specific transcription factor, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein e (C/EBPe) is a critical mediator of myelopoiesis. Mutation of this gene is responsible for neutrophil-specific granule deficiency in humans, a condition that confers susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus infection. We found that C/EBPe-deficient mice are severely affected by infection with S. aureus, and C/EBPe deficiency in neutrophils contributes to the infectious phenotype. Conversely, exposure to the epigenetic modulator nicotinamide (vitamin B3) increased expression of C/EBPe in WT myeloid cells. Further, nicotinamide increased the activity of C/EBPe and select downstream antimicrobial targets, particularly in neutrophils. In a systemic murine infection model as well as in murine and human peripheral blood, nicotinamide enhanced killing of S. aureus by up to 1,000 fold but had no effect when administered to either C/EBPe-deficient mice or mice depleted of neutrophils. Nicotinamide was efficacious in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings. Our findings suggest that C/EBPe is an important target to boost killing of bacteria by the innate immune system.
