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According to one study, compounds derived from coconut oil are more effective than DEET in preventing the transmission of diseases and inconveniences related to insect bites.
Coconut.
For more than 60 years, DEET has been regarded as the gold standard for insect repellents – the most effective and most sustainable insecticide available on the market, say researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ).
increasing regulation and growing public health concerns regarding synthetic repellents and insecticides such as DEET have generated interest in developing more effective and more sustainable herbal repellents, [19659005] The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, identified the fatty acids in coconut oil that have a strong repulsion and lasting effectiveness against several insects – mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies and bedbugs. – can transmit diseases to humans and animals.
A team of scientists led by Junwei Zhu discovered that the coconut oil compounds were effective against biting flies and bed bugs for two weeks and had a lasting repellent effect against them. ticks for at least one working week
The compound showed a strong repulsion against mosquitoes when higher concentrations of coconut oil compounds were applied topically.
Some people refuse to use DEET and turn to folk remedies or herbal repellents. Zhu noted that the most commonly available herbal repellents only work 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 blood sucking insects.
By encapsulating coconut fatty acids in a starch-based preparation, field trials showed that this all-natural preparation could protect cattle from stable flies up to 96 hours or four days, the researchers said. DEET had only 50% efficacy against stable flies, while the coconut oil-based compound was over 95% effective, they said. for about two weeks.
The fatty acids in coconut oil also provided over 90% mosquito repellency – including Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that can transmit Zika virus, according to Zhu.
These compounds derived from coconut oil provide a lasting protection that any other known natural repellent against the blood supply of insects, Zhu said.
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