Coconut oil more effective than insect repellents
According to a study, the compounds found in coconut oil are better than DEET in insect bite prevention.
DEET has been considered the gold standard in insect repellents for more than 60 years, said researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, identified specific coconut oil fatty acids that have strong repellency and long-lasting effectiveness against many insects — mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies and bed bugs — that can transmit diseases to humans and animals.
A team of scientists led by Junwei Zhu found that the coconut oil compounds were effective against biting flies and bed bugs for two weeks and had lasting repellency against ticks for at least one week in laboratory tests.
The strong repellency against blood-sucking insects is provided by the free fatty acid mixture — lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid as well as their corresponding methyl esters derived from coconut oil.
The study found that DEET lost its effectiveness after about three days against bed bugs and ticks, while the coconut oil compound lasted for about two weeks.
The fatty acids in coconut oil also provided more than 90% repellency against mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that can transmit the Zika virus, according to Mr. Zhu.
