According to a study, coconut oil compounds are more effective than insect repellents

Washington : According to one study, compounds derived from coconut oil are more effective than DEET in preventing the transmission of diseases and the discomfort badociated with bites. # 39; insects.

gold standard in insect repellents – the most effective and most sustainable available on the market, said researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

However, growing regulation and growing public health concerns regarding synthetic insect repellents and insecticides such as DEET have sparked interest in developing more effective and sustainable herbal repellents. she said.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, identified coconut oil-specific fatty acids that have a strong repulsion and lasting effectiveness against several insects – mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies, and bedbugs. bed – that can transmit diseases to humans and animals.

A team of scientists led by Junwei Zhu found that coconut oil compounds were effective against biting flies and bed bugs for two weeks and that they exhibited repellent properties against ticks for at least a week during laboratory tests.

The compound was highly resistant to mosquitoes when coconut concentrations were higher. oil compounds were applied locally.

Some people refuse to use DEET and turn to folk remedies or herbal repellent. ents. Zhu noted that most of the currently available herbal repellents only worked for a short time.

The mixture of free fatty acids derived from coconut oil – lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid – as well as their corresponding methyl esters repulsion against blood sucking insects.

By encapsulating coconut fatty acids into a starch-based formula, field trials showed that this all-natural formula could protect cattle against stable flies for 96 hours or four days, the researchers said.

DEET was only 50% effective against stable flies, while the coconut oil-based compound was over 95% effective, they said.

Against bed bugs and ticks, DEET lost its effectiveness after about three days, while the coconut oil compound lasted about two weeks.

According to Zhu, the fatty acids of coconut oil also offered a repellency of over 90% against mosquitoes – including Aedes aegypti, the mosquito capable of transmitting the Zika virus.

These compounds derived from coconut oil provide more durable protection than any other known natural repellent against the blood supply of insects, Zhu said.
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