Bananas and Mosquitos

Factual Questions
1

OK here is the thing; I have a friend of mine who is throwing a 4th of July party, and she posted on a different site about the different home remedies of mosquito repellant, including dryer sheets, vicks vapo rub, vitamins, and even abstaning from the consumption of bananas. Well, I went to Snopes because I believe I read that those rmemdies were crap, and that DEET was really the effective tool. I found the site, posted the link, and I was pretty sure I had her caught.

Well she posts back saying that her sister had spent sometime in the wild and that abstaning from 'nana consumption actually is quite effective and she would take that anectdotal evidence over the the science of the studies that prove otherwise. Since snopes doesnt really attack the 'nana theory, I said that if she could find a credible study proving ehr case then I would buy it. SO there is my quandry, I want to know that if I stop consuming bananas, will that be a SIGNIFICANT aid in the “masking” of myself from mosquitos? Thanks folks.

Frenzy1023

2

I haven’t had a banana in months, but I still get bitten all the time.

But then again, you have to carry a 12-gauge shotgun for the mosquitos around here.

Tripler
They’re huge. The size of small Volkwagens!

3

Banana consumption certainly could be significant. I don’t know if they are, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Eating bananas could change your smell of your skin, or breath, or some other subtle physiological change that are detectable by mosquitos but not to humans.

Some mosquito facts:
http://www.mosquito.com.au/mosquito/facts.html

4

Gorillas maybe, but mosquitoes? Doubtful. Like Tripler I’m not a banana guy but I still get bit.