Food against Mosquitoes

In January a Brazilian girl mentioned to me, that there are certain foods that you can eat against mosquito bites. A week ago somebody mentioned that Vitamin B is good against mosquito bites. So I decided to do a quick research and tell you about my results.

Yes, both might be true, even though the vitamin B story is not proven yet.

  1. What works against blood sucking beasts? Garlic. This is by far not just a little vampire myth. Mosquitoes locate you through your smell and therefore there are certain foods that shield your (human being) smell by being stronger, such as allicin. Which counts for all garlic related foods such as onions, leeks, shallots, … Works best raw.
  2. Cider vinegar also seems to have a similar effect.
  3. Lemongrass for the citronella, that works like the allicin.
  4. Chili pepper for the capsaicin.
  5. Grape fruit for the nootkatone, that also seem to work on other bugs, bed bugs and head lice.
  6. Vitamin B1 rich foods as tomatoes or legumes. Legumes also affect your smell whereas tomato juice is also a good bite healer (rubbing it on the bite).

Food you should avoid:

  1. Beer: it seems mosquitoes like that.
  2. Salty food they produce lactic acid which is liked by mosquitoes. Same counts for exercise.
  3. Sweets.
  4. Potassium rich diet. This also produces a higher lactic acid amount… So avoid fruits like bananas, avocados, potatoes, prunes, raisins, spinach, lima beans, …

Other tips:

  1. Avoid exercise at twilight and dawn or better stay in at that period.
  2. Wear light coloured long sleeved clothes.
  3. Use repellent on clothes (if it’s possible) instead of on your skin.
  4. Mosquitoes don’t like draught.

Sources:

I couldn’t find anything on nutritionfacts.org.

I searched three webpages to see if they have similarities, as they are all unreliable sources to me (because I don’t know them).

https://www.mosquitomagnet.com/articles/mosquito-repellent-foods

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/trends-fads/what-to-eat-to-avoid-mosquito-bites

http://www.organicauthority.com/health/taste-horrible-to-mosquitoes-4-foods-to-avoid-and-2-to-eat.html

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