4 ms·

Mosquitos love me, but when I know I'll go to a place with a lot of them, I start taking B12 vitamin. It was a tip a friend of mine gave me, and it usually work

by neves 9y ago

Mosquitos love me, but when I know I'll go to a place with a lot of them, I start taking B12 vitamin. It was a tip a friend of mine gave me, and it usually works. I don't know why and never read anything about it.

arbitrage 9y ago
Interesting. I started taking B12 supplements this winter. I usually get swarmed by mosquitoes in the summer. It will be interesting to see if my experience changes this season.
CWuestefeld 9y ago
Sorry to be that guy, but this is probably not true. the notion that ingesting certain products like B vitamins (or garlic, for that matter) might repel mosquitoes is common, but unfounded. Based on scientific studies I was able to dig up, B vitamins are not effective mosquito repellants, and vitamin B12, specifically, is not well-studied. What scientists know more about is another B vitamin - B1 - also known as thiamine. As part of a larger survey of effective mosquito repellants, a 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that, "No ingested compound, including garlic and thiamine (vitamin B1), has been found to be capable of repelling biting arthropods." -- http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/21/can-vitamin-b12-prevent-mosquito-transmitted-diseases/ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/21/can-vitamin-b12-pre...
- saltcured 9y ago
  I wonder whether some of these folk remedies might affect the response to bites, i.e. modulating the immune system response and inflamation... My wife always claims to be a mosquito magnet, but I have thought about it in various situations like camping and touring the tropics. I am not sure if she is getting harassed more than me, or if she just reacts more strongly to all the bites. Some of my bites are very mild, and I could believe that there might be more that I don't even notice.

4 ms·

Mosquitos love me, but when I know I'll go to a place with a lot of them, I start taking B12 vitamin. It was a tip a friend of mine gave me, and it usually work

by neves 9y ago

arbitrage 9y ago
Interesting. I started taking B12 supplements this winter. I usually get swarmed by mosquitoes in the summer. It will be interesting to see if my experience changes this season.
CWuestefeld 9y ago
Sorry to be that guy, but this is probably not true. the notion that ingesting certain products like B vitamins (or garlic, for that matter) might repel mosquitoes is common, but unfounded. Based on scientific studies I was able to dig up, B vitamins are not effective mosquito repellants, and vitamin B12, specifically, is not well-studied. What scientists know more about is another B vitamin - B1 - also known as thiamine. As part of a larger survey of effective mosquito repellants, a 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that, "No ingested compound, including garlic and thiamine (vitamin B1), has been found to be capable of repelling biting arthropods." -- http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/21/can-vitamin-b12-prevent-mosquito-transmitted-diseases/ http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/21/can-vitamin-b12-pre...
- saltcured 9y ago
  I wonder whether some of these folk remedies might affect the response to bites, i.e. modulating the immune system response and inflamation... My wife always claims to be a mosquito magnet, but I have thought about it in various situations like camping and touring the tropics. I am not sure if she is getting harassed more than me, or if she just reacts more strongly to all the bites. Some of my bites are very mild, and I could believe that there might be more that I don't even notice.