Study summary
Larvicidal and mosquito repellent action of peppermint (Mentha piperita) oil
Ansari MA, Vasudevan P, Tandon M, Razdan RK
- Study type
- Lab
- Year
- 2000
- Published in
- Bioresource Technology 71(3):267-271
- Evidence strength
- Limited evidence
Summary
Laboratory evaluation of peppermint (Mentha piperita) oil for larvicidal activity and for human-skin repellency against Anopheles annularis, Anopheles culicifacies, and Culex quinquefasciatus.
Key findings
Applied to skin, peppermint oil gave 100% protection against An. annularis, 92.3% against An. culicifacies, and 84.5% against Cx. quinquefasciatus; it was also larvicidal in water.
Limitations
Single small laboratory study; protection percentages reported over a short (about 3-hour) test window with rapid decline; mixes larvicidal and repellent endpoints; no field or complete-protection-time data.