Does eating garlic help repel mosquitoes?

The familiar prevention measures such as using mosquito incense, insect spray or mosquito lamp are only temporary measures, they will quickly return after the insecticide wears off. Like many others, you may be looking for some creative ways to keep this obnoxious animal as far away as possible — like eating large amounts of garlic.

Eating garlic has long been a folk trick that few people want to try due to the unpleasant odor that this food leaves on our breath. However, the high sulfur compounds found in garlic are considered effective mosquito 'remedies'. The question is how effective is this method in practice? Is it worth the trade-off?

As it turns out, there's no scientific proof that eating garlic will turn mosquitoes away from you. The researchers refuted the claim that eating garlic protects against mosquito bites and reduces the risk of malaria, noting that it is an unfounded oral tradition. Eating a lot of garlic can keep people away from you instead of driving away mosquitoes.

In a study conducted by the University of Connecticut Medical Center (USA) in 2005, scientists asked a group of test subjects to consume large amounts of garlic for a few days, while the other group did not. . Then all volunteers were placed in a mosquito-rich environment. The results showed that the number of mosquito bites in the group of people who ate garlic and did not eat garlic was almost similar.

So instead of adding to your diet recipes that contain large amounts of garlic, consider what really attracts mosquitoes so you can start preventing them in a more effective way.

The only food or drink proven to affect mosquitoes when ingested by humans is beer/alcohol: Alcohol attracts mosquitoes. In a 2002 study in the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, a group of 14 subjects drank 350ml of beer on various occasions. The results showed that drinking beer significantly increased the odds of mosquitoes landing on volunteers, although the exact reason why remains unclear.