Coconut soap may be the best option for reducing mosquito bites

Hundreds of teams from practically all over the world have been looking for the solution for years but, Not even the most specialized scientists have yet managed to find an effective method to prevent mosquitoes from biting us.

Among the most recent advances in this field, a study published in February 2022 stands out, indicating that, in addition to capturing carbon dioxide from our breath, female mosquitoes (those that bite) fly towards us attracted by specific colors, especially red, orange, black and cyan.

Reality has also shown that there are some factors that make us even more attractive to them, such as drinking alcohol or wearing floral perfumes. The latter makes a lot of sense, because mosquitoes feed on the nectar of flowers. However, it is something that hadn’t been thoroughly researched. At least not until now, because a team of scientists from Virginia Tech has conducted an experiment aimed precisely at seeing which soaps can attract or repel these insects. And yes, consciously choosing our soap can be the best mosquito repellent.

They focused on soap because it doesn’t just add a scent to the body, like perfumes. When we wash, we remove certain chemicals from our skin and replace them with others. For this reason we can unknowingly create an attractive or repellent cocktail for mosquitoes.

Various perfumes were tested and it was found that most of the floral and fruity scents are indeed attractive. But there was one soap that turned out to be a good mosquito repellent: coconut.

To carry out this study, its authors took odor extracts from several people through a nylon sleeve placed on their arm. First the extract was taken directly from their skin without washing them and then after washing with four different floral or fruit soaps.

Subsequently, these extracts were placed in a mesh cage with mosquitoes inside. In each experiment, two containers with the same person’s extract were placed, one unwashed and the other with some type of soap.

We saw that with three of the soaps the mosquitoes clearly preferred the scent of the scrubbed individual. Except in one case. When they washed with coconut soap, the bugs preferred unwashed skin. This indicates that this scent could serve as a mosquito repellent.

In fact, the results of this study square with those of previous investigations, which showed that some fatty acids in coconut could be a good mosquito repellent.

Therefore, the next step of these scientists It will be necessary to verify if the coconut aroma has the same effect in other formats, in addition to soap. Perhaps air fresheners or even air fresheners that perfume entire rooms would also be useful.