Howard Eder News Today

A “systemic repellent” that makes your whole body unappealing to biting insects certainly sounds good. But if oral repellents sound too good to be true, it’s because they are.

A medical myth suggests that taking vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, can make your body repel mosquitoes. A “systemic repellent” that makes your whole body unappealing to biting insects certainly sounds good. Even if you correctly reject the misinformation questioning safe and effective repellents like DEET (the chemical N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, the active ingredient in many insect repellent…

A medical myth persists that the B vitamin thiamine is a systemic insect repellent that wards off mosquitoes when taken orally. But scientists have disproven this mistaken belief again and again.