COCONUT BASED SOAPS MAY DRIVE THOSE MOSQUITOS AWAY: NEW STUDY

A new study has pointed out that coconut-based soaps may have the power to repel these mosquitos and coconut-scented soaps were among the most effective at repelling mosquitoes.

It's that time of the year when India becomes a breeding ground for mosquitos and prone to all the mosquito-borne diseases that are associated with these insects.

The results of the study that was conducted by researchers from virginia polytechnic institute and state university have been published in the journal science.

The study noted that soaps significantly alter the olfactory signature of human hosts and also that while there are soaps that increase host attractiveness for mosquitoes there are also others that reduce it.

Researchers identified four chemicals associated with mosquito attraction and three chemicals associated with repulsion, including a coconut-scented chemical that is a key component in american bourbon and a floral compound used to treat scabies and lice. The team combined these chemicals to create and test attractive and repellent odor blends, which had strong impacts on mosquito preference.

With these mixtures, we eliminated all the noise in the signal by only including those chemicals that the statistics were telling us are important for attraction or repulsion,” says senior author and neuroethologist clément Vinauger. “I would choose a coconut-scented soap if I wanted to reduce mosquito attraction.”