Study summary
Larvicidal and mosquito repellent action of peppermint (Mentha piperita) oil
Ansari MA, Vasudevan P, Tandon M, Razdan RK
Read the original paper- Study type
- Lab
- Year
- 2000
- Species tested
- Anopheles, Culex (India)
- Published in
- Bioresource Technology 71(3):267-271
- Evidence strength
- Limited evidence
How it was tested
Peppermint oil was applied to the water surface for larval mortality tests and to volunteers' exposed skin for overnight field repellency against wild mosquitoes, scored as the percentage of bites prevented versus an untreated control.
Summary
A study of peppermint oil in two roles: killing mosquito larvae in water and repelling adult mosquitoes on skin. It is often cited as evidence peppermint has real mosquito activity, not just a pleasant smell.
Key findings
As a larvicide it was strong, killing 85 to 100% of the larvae of three mosquito species within a day at low doses. On skin overnight it gave high but not complete protection: essentially full against Anopheles annularis and about 92% and 85% against Anopheles culicifacies and Culex quinquefasciatus. Because protection is reported as a percentage over a fixed night rather than a time to first bite, it is not directly comparable to complete-protection-time studies.
Limitations
Repellency was measured as percent protection over a fixed overnight window with uncontrolled wild-mosquito pressure, and volunteer numbers are not stated.