Popular Candy Ingredient Could Be The Key to Fewer Mosquito Bites

Louisiana residents know a thing or two about mosquitoes and the bites that inflict upon us. We are into that time of year when being outside at sundown is part of our Louisiana lifestyle. Unfortunately, that time of day is also the time of day when mosquitoes like to do their foraging for human blood. So, it's a fairly good bet at sometime during the summer months you're going to have a mosquito encounter.

Most of us have our own unique ways of dealing with the nagging itching effects of a mosquito bite. Others of us spend countless hours awake at night because of a mosquito buzzing around the room, here's how to kill that one by the way.

But wouldn't it be a glorious summer if we found a way to make ourselves less attractive to mosquitoes and we didn't have to coat ourselves in chemicals or sprays that make us smell more like a service station bathroom than the promised "floral accents"?

A recent study done by Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences found our bath soaps play a pretty big part in what makes us attractive to mosquitoes. The study found that volunteers who used brand-named soaps such as Dial, Dove, Native, and Simple Truth really ramped up the mosquito interest among those who participated in the study.

One other significant finding the results of the study produced showed that coconut seemed to be a major deterrent to mosquito activity. Researchers have hypothesized that soaps that contain ingredients with certain fatty acids, such as coconut, actually repelled the biting bugs. This study seemed to bare that fact out.

It should be noted that the Virginia Tech study was done with a fairly small sample size but the findings are interesting. Perhaps if you find yourself constantly under siege from mosquitoes, maybe you'd want to switch to a soap that contains coconut and see if this makes a difference for you. In the meantime, we still suggest you follow the CDC Guidelines for mosquito bites and mosquito protection.