Coconut Oil is an Effective Bug Repellent - Study

Study finds that compounds derived from coconut oil are more effective bug repellent than diethyltoluamide (DEET).  Considered as the gold standard in insect repellents for more that six decades, DEET is the most effective and long-lasting commercially available product, according to researchers from the US Department of Agriculture.  However, increasing regulations and growing public health concerns about synthetic repellents and insecticides like DEET have sparked interests in developing plant-based repellents that are more effective and longer lasting, they said.
    The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, identified specific coconut oil fatty acids that have strong repellency and long-lasting effectiveness against multiple insects such as mosquitos, tick, biting flies, and bed bugs, than can transmit diseases to humans and animals. A team of scientists led by Junwei Zhu found that the coconut oil compounds were effective against ticks for at least  one week  in laboratory tests. The compound showed strong repellency against mosquitos when higher concentrations of coconut oil compounds were topically applied.  
The coconut oil-derived free fatty mixture, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid as well as their corresponding methyl esters, provides strong repellency against blood-sucking insects. By encapsulating coconut fatty acids into a starch-based formula, field trials showed this all-natural formula could provide protection to cattle against stable flies for up to 96 hours or four days, researchers said.  DEET was only 50% effective against stable flies, while the coconut oil compound was more than 95% effective.  Against bed bugs and ticks, the coconut oil compound effectiveness lasted for about two weeks compared to DEET which lasted three days, the study found.  Coconut oil fatty acids also provided more than 90% repellency against mosquitos including Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that can transmit the Zika virus, according to Mr. Zhu.