ORLANDO, Fla. – Let’s face it. Mosquitos love some of us more than others, unrequited or not, and a new study shows it could be because of your scent.
Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences conducted a study on mosquito scent preferences and found they are more likely to be attracted to soaps with a fruity or floral smell.
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The research published on Wednesday studied the connection between soap and mosquito attractiveness through four volunteers.
“Just by changing soap scents, someone who already attracts mosquitoes at a higher-than-average rate could further amplify or decrease that attraction,” Clément Vinauger, an assistant professor of biochemistry and co-principal investigator on the proof-of-concept study, said in a statement.
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The volunteers washed with Dial, Dove, Native, and Simple Truth soaps and three of the four increased mosquito attractiveness. The soap that decreased attractiveness had a coconut scent, while the others had floral and fruity scents.
“That was very interesting for us because there is other evidence in the literature that elevating certain fatty acids, such as those found in coconut oil derivatives, could serve as a repellant for mosquitoes and other insects,” Vinauger said in a news release.
He went on to say a combination between your natural odor and specific soap leads to an increase or decrease in mosquito attractiveness and future studies aim to pinpoint the duration of these effects.
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