Texas Standard’s go-to insect expert gets a few constant questions, including this one:
“Do some people attract mosquitoes or other biting insects more than others? And if so, why?”
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist Wizzie Brown says she herself is a “mosquito magnet.” And, it’s true – scientists have determined some causes for this. Still, Brown warns, it’s not totally cut and dry.
Do you have a bug question for Wizzie Brown? Drop us a line, and we’ll pass it along.
1. Your blood type
There are studies that show that different blood types are preferred over others. But Brown says this is one example you might take with a grain of salt.
“Because if you’re doing a preference test for something, like if I give a Snickers bar and a Mars bar, you’re going to have a preference. So if you give mosquitoes one type of blood versus another, they’re going to have a preference,” Brown says.
Studies have shown mosquitoes prefer to land on type O blood compared to type A blood.
“I’m not type O, but they land on me plenty,” Brown says.
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2. Your diet
Another thing that can factor into the mosquito attractiveness is your diet. Though, again, this isn’t something that is extremely well-documented.
“A lot of people tell me, ‘Oh, I eat a lot of garlic, or I take vitamin B,’ or a lot people, ‘I smoke cigarettes’ and so that keeps them away,” Brown says. “[But] generally with this, there’s not a whole lot of evidence.”
There are foods that are high in potassium, like bananas, that can possibly cause more attractiveness for mosquitoes because they increase the amount of lactic acid that you’re giving off and mosquitoes are attracted to that.
“And then the other thing that kind of plays into the food that you eat and what can make you more attractive is the microbiome on your skin… It’s kind of the natural flora and fauna that is on your body,” Brown says. “So not only the food that we eat is going to affect kind of what is going on, and also your cleaning habits of yourself and that sort of thing, that all plays into that, but your microbiome can be more or less attractive to mosquitoes.”
3. Your familiar smell
Mosquitoes in a certain area will start picking up certain smells.
Brown says if you think about where you live in your neighborhood, there’s going to be a certain smell to that area compared to other parts of Texas.
“And so mosquitoes that are kind of emerging in that area get used to those certain smells and so it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, well we’re going to hang out over here cause this is what we’re used to and what we are comfortable with.’ We kind of do that as humans too,” Brown says.
4. Are you pregnant?
Another one is pregnancy.
When you are in later stages of pregnancy, you’re giving off more carbon dioxide.
“So apparently, late-stage pregnancy, those women exhale 21% more carbon than non-pregnant women. And so that can certainly play into the mosquitoes,” Brown says.
“[Mosquitoes] are attracted to the smell of lactic acid. They are attracted to carbon dioxide. And they are attracted to heat that we’re giving off with our body. And so if you are producing more carbon dioxide, you’re going to be more attractive to them because that’s one of the things that they’re looking for.”
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