Are beer drinkers bitten by mosquitoes more often?
For the past few days, I’ve felt like some kind of mangy dog, considering how often I’ve been scratching myself. On my neck, arms, legs and, yes, even my buttocks: mosquito bites everywhere. Fan-tas-tic. Now I read that mosquitoes are more likely to bite you if you drink beer. And wouldn’t you know it, just this past weekend… exactly. 1 + 1 = 2?
Yes. But not entirely. It turns out that it’s not just beer, but every form of alcohol that makes us more attractive to mosquitoes.
The misunderstanding arose from a Japanese study, in which researchers investigated whether alcohol consumption in general affected how attractive people were to mosquitoes. One group of test subjects was given beer, while the other group was given water. The choice of beer was purely coincidental. It could just as easily have been wine or spirits.
Mosquito magnetism
What the scientists discovered was that ethanol intake increases skin temperature and sweat production, making the test subjects more attractive to mosquitoes. The scientists wrote: ‘Our study showed that the percentage of mosquitoes attracted to the test subjects was significantly higher after beer consumption, demonstrating that alcohol intake stimulates mosquito attraction.’
In short: cocktails, shots, beer or wine, mosquitoes love it. So just make sure you have a good mosquito net or mosquito repellent.
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