As consumers are increasingly wary of pesticides and chemical insect repellents, it’s important to help them understand which natural products may and may not work.
Most natural insect repellent products contain essential oils. You’ll likely see citronella oil the most. While applying citronella oil to the skin might protect against mosquito bites, the protection is very brief. Citronella oil 10% provides less than 20 minutes of protection. While higher concentrations might last longer, 10% concentration is most common in available products. Plus, it’s not clear if citronella oil helps protect against tick bites.
Lemon eucalyptus oil is also common, and there’s some good evidence showing it might help. Applying lemon eucalyptus oil 40% to 75% seems to be comparable to DEET 20% to 40% for preventing mosquito bites. But protection might only last for 1-5 hours compared to DEET’s 5-6 hours. As for tick bites, there’s some early evidence showing it might reduce tick bites for people living in tick-infested areas, but it’s not clear if it’s an effective tick repellent.
Soybean oil is another option. Applying soybean oil 2% protects against mosquitoes for up to 1.5 hours – this is similar to products containing DEET 4.7%. Health Canada considers soybean oil as an effective alternative to low concentration DEET products. But higher concentration DEET products last significantly longer, and there’s no evidence that it can protect against tick bites.
The natural insect repellent market continues to boom. While patients might be eager to toss their chemical products in favor of natural alternatives, make sure they have realistic expectations around effectiveness – especially if they plan to be in tick-infested areas. Check out our Comparative Effectiveness chart to learn about other studied ingredients.
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