WASHINGTON: Compounds derived from
coconut oil
are better than
DEET
at preventing disease transmission and discomfort associated with
insect
bites, according to a study. For over 60 years, DEET has been considered the
gold standard
in insect repellents — the most effective and long-lasting available commercially, said researchers from US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
However, increasing regulations and growing public health concerns about synthetic repellents and insecticides like DEET have sparked interest in developing plant-based repellents that are more effective and longer lasting, they said.
The study, published in ‘
Scientific Reports
’, identified specific coconut oil fatty acids that have strong repellency and long-lasting effectiveness against multiple insects — mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies and bed bugs — that can transmit diseases to humans and animals.
A team of scientists led by Junwei Zhu found that the coconut oil compounds were effective against biting flies and bed bugs for two weeks and had lasting repellency against ticks for at least one week in laboratory tests.
The compound showed 50% stronger repellency against mosquitoes when higher concentrations of coconut oil compounds were topically applied. Some people refuse to use DEET and turn to folk remedies or plant-based repellents. Most currently available plantbased repellents work for only a short period, Zhu noted.
The coconut oil-derived free
fatty acid
mixture — lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid as well as their corresponding methyl esters — provides strong repellency against insects.