An Alternative Method to Ward Off Mosquitos?

Every hiker and climber knows that when outdoors mosquitos are one of the biggest pests and are best to be avoided. With the various diseases mosquitoes carry, such as West Nile Virus and Viral Encephelitis, a bite from a mosquito could go from being a harmless nuisance to a dangerous and sometimes fatal disease.

Diethyl-meta-toluamide, also known as DEET, is the chemical found in most over the counter insect repellents. Products that contain DEET are usually effective against mosquitoes. However, products that contain too much of this chemical has caused death in some people in particular children. In 1995, New York State banned products that contained more than 30% DEET. The Military does not supply its soldiers with any product that contains more than 33% DEET. Scientific data indicates that a high exposure to DEET could cause memory loss, headache, weakness, fatigue, muscle/joint pain, tremors and shortness of breath. It has been highly recommended that children, especially infants, not use any products that contain DEET.

There is an alternatives to insect repellents that contain DEET and it is a familiar household name. Better known for cooking, Garlic is a wonder herb that has been used for a variety of health reasons for thousands of years. Aside from warding off vampires, Garlic also works well on mosquitoes. The sulfur in the garlic creates an odor that repels the mosquitoes. Research has shown that garlic-based insect repellents deter mosquitoes from biting. Even garlic tablets or eating raw garlic will lessen the frequency of mosquito bites. There has also been some scientific data that indicates that garlic repels ticks, another annoying bloodsucker. However, while the existing data leans towards this conclusion, testing by no means yet is not complete.

So the next time you want to go out hiking in the woods, load up on the those garlic tablets the night before or spray yourself with some garlic based insect repellent. Just make sure you do not have an important dinner date later that evening.