Mosquitoes Need Sugar to Survive

A spoonful of sugar can not only help the ‘medicine go down’ (in the famous words of Mary Poppins), but it can also help to keep mosquitoes away! Research has revealed that mosquitoes also have an attraction to sugar. Which means if they’ve had their dessert first, they’re less likely to want to go back to the main course…our blood!

Why sugar may stop mosquito bites

A spoonful of sugar may help keep the fever medicine away, according to new research that has pinpointed a protein in disease-carrying mosquitoes that can curb their attraction to human blood. According to new research, feeding sugar to mosquitoes affects this protein enough that the bloodsuckers temporarily keep from biting humans. “If you can avoid mosquitoes being attracted to human hosts, you can reduce the chance humans have to be infected by viruses,” said Paolo Gabrieli, a zoologist at the University of Milan in Italy and one of the co-authors of the new study, published today in the journal PLOS Biology.

If mosquitoes feed more from plant sources to gain their sugar intake, then, in theory, it should reduce the number of mosquito bites in humans, which means a reduction in the transmission of disease.

Mosquitoes need sugar to survive, now there’s an addiction we can get behind! But how can we convince mosquitoes to go for the sweet stuff and not our blood! If you’re also partial to sugar, does that mean your blood is more appealing?

Do mosquitoes bite you more if you eat sweet foods and how can I deter them?

Prevention is always better than cure, so it is wise to ensure you don’t get bitten in the first place. There are a number of things you can do to keep yourself bite free. Bugs tend to be less attracted to lighter coloured fabrics so pack some clothes that aren’t dark blue or black; perfumes that are sweet in fragrance and a diet high in sugar will attract the bugs, so cut down on your sugar intake and refrain from wearing perfume.

Not only do we all need to cut down on our sugar intake for a healthy lifestyle, but we also need to to give those extra candy bars a miss because they might just be the cause of why you’re getting bitten by mosquitoes. Cutting out the sweet treats won’t be enough to keep you safe from these pests, so make sure you use mosquito repellent at all times.