Cinnamon Oil Kills Mosquito Larvae

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Cinnamon Oil Kills

Mosquito Larvae

By Daniel DeNoon

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

WebMD.com

7-22-4

 

Cinnamon oil is an environmentally friendly way to kill mosquito

hatchlings, a Taiwanese study shows.

 

It might even make bug repelling better smelling -- although whether

cinnamon oil keeps adult mosquitoes from biting has yet to be

tested.

 

The findings, from Sen-Sung Cheng, a natural products chemist at

National Taiwan University, and colleagues, appear in the July 14

issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

 

Current mosquito-control efforts often rely on organophosphate

insecticides. Use of these agents has raised health and

environmental concerns, Cheng and colleagues note, so they looked

for a different approach. They noted that cinnamon leaf oils have

been shown to inhibit bacteria, termites, mites, mildew, and fungi.

 

Cheng's team derived various oils from the leaves of a type of

cinnamon tree that grows in Taiwan. They tested the oils -- and

their main ingredients -- against the larvae of Aedes aegypti

mosquitoes. This is one of the mosquito species spreading dengue

fever -- a viral illness transmitted to humans by mosquitoes during

the feeding process.

 

They found that one chemical in the oil, cinnamaldehyde, worked the

best. At less than 50 parts per million, it killed half the mosquito

larvae. That's better than DEET, currently the best-known mosquito

repellent which is applied on the skin and repels insects rather

than kills them.

 

"We think that cinnamon oil might also affect adult mosquitoes by

acting as a repellent," Cheng says in a news release.

 

Cheng says his team plans to test this theory.

 

Cinnamon oil -- which has not been tested for use as bug repellent --

is sold in small bottles as an aromatherapy.

 

According to the National Toxicology program, cinnamaldehyde is used

in foods, beverages, medical products, perfumes, cosmetics, soaps,

detergents, creams, and lotions. It's also been used as an animal

repellent, as an insect attractant, and as an antifungal agent. It

may have toxic effects at high concentrations.

 

- SOURCES: Cheng, S.-S. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,

July 14, 2004; vol 52: pp 4395-4400. News release, American Chemical

Society.

 

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