Comments on: Mosquitoes are Attracted to Men More Than Women http://brokensecrets.com/2010/06/25/mosquitoes-are-attracted-to-men-more-than-women/ Sharing some of life's best kept secrets Sat, 26 May 2012 16:17:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Elbyron http://brokensecrets.com/2010/06/25/mosquitoes-are-attracted-to-men-more-than-women/comment-page-1/#comment-949 Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:29:24 +0000 http://brokensecrets.com/?p=2829#comment-949 The compound in catnip oil actually called Nepetalactone (with an e on the end). Back in 2001 researchers discovered its effectiveness by applying it to the inside of a tube and noticing that most mosquitos stayed away from that side of the tube. Because it’s a naturally occuring oil, tons of natural remedy companies started marketing repellants made from catnip oil extracts. Of course, most of them never bothered to test the effectiveness on humans. But at least someone did. Kooky Kat Catnip Company sells catnip oil, and conducted their own research in 2003. They found that human skin evaporates it too quickly (useless after 20 minutes), requiring frequent re-application to have any effectiveness. Combining it with other oils didn’t help. Another problem they discovered is that nepetalactone attracts honeybees and possibly fire ants. And their test subjects found the smell of 4% catnip oil to be overpowering. Perhaps somebody will one day someone will develop a formulation that will keep it from evaporating and reduce the odor. But I doubt much can be done about the bee & ant problem.

Another interesting thing I found when reading studies on nepetalactone was that there is another chemical called SS220 that does a good job of repelling mosquitoes. There’s lots of studies on this one, most of which show that it is at least as effective as DEET on the most common types of mosquitoes, and can have a longer period of effectiveness than DEET on certain specific kinds of mostquitoes.

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