# Do Mosquitoes Bite Fat People More Than Thin People? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483 "2001-09-24T14:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/1 "2001-09-24T14:07:59Z")
Or a better way of saying it, Do mosquitoes bite people that eat alot of sugar more than people that don’t eat sweets(inothers eat “clean”)? Because when I use to be overweight and ate a bunch crap like pies, ice cream etc I got bit alot. Well I have really cleaned up my diet and loss that weight and I got stuck with a friend the other night dove hunting and we had to walk 6 miles back the ranch house(ugh) at night. My friend was getting creamed and I only got a few bites so that is what made me ask this question. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/2 "2001-09-24T14:09:32Z")
They only bite sweet people… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/3 "2001-09-24T14:14:47Z")
WAG here: Given that the main diet of mosquitoes is nectar, and positing that people who eat a lot of sweets might sweat some sugar… I would guess that it is _possible_ that people who eat alot of sweets might be a more attractive target than those who don’t eat sweets… I’d love to see a study about this! Anyone got one? A link? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/4 "2001-09-24T14:17:35Z")
I could be wrong, but I have heard that mosquitoes are attracted to estrogen and carbon dioxide. I don’t think weight comes into play, unless meatier folk give off more carbon dioxide, which I suppose is possible. If you’re huffing and puffing because you’re exerting yourself, maybe you give off more CO2. FTR, I am skinny and mosquitoes LOVE me. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/5 "2001-09-24T14:18:53Z")
**Astroboy** , the main diet of mosquitoes is nectar?? I would have thunk the main diet of mosquitoes is BLOOD. Maybe you’re thinking of bees. ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/6 "2001-09-24T14:23:09Z")
Not sure about mosquitoes, but all other things being equal, fat people do use more soap. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/7 "2001-09-24T14:29:41Z")
Not in my personal experience. I’ve been fat and thin and just don’t get bite often at all. But I have more garlic in my diet than sugar. Like **Astroboy** , I would like to see a study. Off to peruse Google… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/8 "2001-09-24T14:29:51Z")
How much garlic is in your diet? It supposedly helps keep them away. I wonder if that’s how the garlic/dracula connection started? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/9 "2001-09-24T14:30:40Z")
**LifeOnWry** : Nope - **Astroboy** is correct. Only female mosquitos suck blood and then only for one reason - To obtain extra protein to help manufacture their eggs ( a few other non-nectar accessible nutrients as well, I’m sure - but mostly I think it’s the protein ). As to the OP - I kinda doubt it’s strictly the sugar content ( would pre-diabetics suffer heavier mosquito predation? ) or weight ( seems I got harassed more often when I was skinnier 😃 ), but I really don’t know for certain. Certainly they do have preferences. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/10 "2001-09-24T15:02:22Z")
I’ve heard that mosquitos are partial to dark clothing and people who’ve recently eaten a banana. ---
**Author:** ![jonfromdenver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/11 "2001-09-24T15:06:57Z")
i find that white people get bitten more often than minorities, but i have no proof or no reason as to why. this also seems to be regional–i get virtually no bites here in colorado, but get bitten to hell in minnesota, while my very white girlfriend does not. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/12 "2001-09-24T15:33:29Z")
jon, wouldn’t that be a function of nighttime temperature lows and availability of standing water? I too have read that it’s only the females that bite and also that they can tell temperature variations of up to 1/10,000 of a degree. I know that working on Alaska’s North Slope which is covered with small lakes, we’d see none in the morning until things began to warm up and then whoom, thousands at once. There have been reports of caribou there dying from blood loss due to the multitude of mosquitos. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/13 "2001-09-24T15:38:34Z")
Overweight people would have a higher surface area to exhude whatever it is that the mosquitoes are attracted to. Does that make sense? I always thought it was heat, not carbon dioxide. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/14 "2001-09-24T15:45:47Z")
Did a google search. Seems that they do indeed “smell” carbond dioxide and, apparently, octanol (which I had no idea was a component of human breathing). So surface area has little to do with it, except that an overweight person would have more waste CO2 to eliminate since they have more cells. My WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/15 "2001-09-24T16:25:17Z")
I appreciate all the answers everybody. So co2 is what attracts those suckers. So I guess “Off” block the co2 odor is how it deflects mosquitoes huh? Also I don’t get the females only biting. How do the males eat or what do they eat? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/16 "2001-09-24T21:31:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > Also I don’t get the females only biting. How do the males eat or what do they eat? As **Astroboy** said, they mostly feed on nectar. Just think of them as really small Hummingbirds 😃 . - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/17 "2001-09-24T22:28:06Z")
I’ve heard of bands doing weird things before, but this takes the cake. Why would they participate in the bizarre ritual of biting human flesh? Is it a fetish thing? And who was primarily responsible for this? Bingo, Bango, Bongo, or Irving? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/18 "2001-09-24T22:46:24Z")
Boys and girls - this whole thread is dedicated to explaining one bit of data, and it’s being interpreted beyond reason. The OP jumped to several conclusions (because of his increased agility?) including the main one- that his partner got bitten more than he did because of weight. This he is comparing to the number of bites he, himself, got when he was younger, admittedly heavier, and presumably somewhere else, or to the number of bites his friend got that evening. If ever there were a place to suggest attention to variables, this would be it. It seems, by the way, the research on what causes mosquitoes to bite some times more than others is not yet on the cutting edge, or we’d have some mighty effective repellants by now. ---
**Author:** ![NevarMore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@NevarMore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NevarMore)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/19 "2001-09-24T22:55:43Z")
weell, i cant speak scientifically, but i can relay to you personal experience. A few years back there was a scout trip to the 1000 lake region in minnesota. It was a wet year and the water was high. Due to this it had stagnated near the shore and gave the 'skeeters a good place to breed. The group i was with included 2 large people. One was 40ish and about 350 the other was 14 and about 200. These two got eaten alive by the mosquitoes. While the rest of us (two very athletic, and im tall and skinny) could sit and do everything that is supposed to attaract the blood suckers and not get bitten. OH! just remembered. arent mosquitoes attracted to certain colors?? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_The\_Bold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dale\_The\_Bold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_The_Bold)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483/20 "2001-09-25T02:06:40Z")
The same reason more meteorites hit Texas than Rhode Island. They aren’t _attracted_ to a larger surface area, they are just more likely to happen upon it. If sugary foods in your diet cause mosquito bites, you might want to ask cops who work night shifts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mosquitoes-bite-fat-people-more-than-thin-people/83483.md?page=2)