Sweet-Smelling Cinnamon Oil Kills Mosquito Larvae

TAIPEI, Taiwan, July 16, 2004 (ENS) - Cinnamon oil can be used as an environmentally friendly pesticide, with the ability to kill mosquito larvae, new research shows. The cinnamon oil can be derived from a tree that grows in Taiwan's natural hardwood forests.

Cinnamaldehyde is the main constituent in cinnamon leaf oil and is used worldwide as a food additive and flavoring agent. A formulation using the compound could be sprayed just like a pesticide, but without the potential for adverse health effects, plus the added bonus of a pleasant smell say scientists at the National University of Taiwan.

Cinnamon leaves (Photo credit unknown)

Chang and his coworkers tested 11 compounds in cinnamon leaf oil for their ability to kill emerging larvae of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

“Four compounds - cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, eugenol and anethole - exhibited the strongest activity against A. aegypti in 24 hours of testing,” Chang says.

The findings are reported in the July 14 edition of the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry," a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society.

Mosquitoes carry deadly agents such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and West Nile virus. While conventional pesticides are often effective in controlling mosquito larvae before they hatch, repeated use of these pesticides has raised serious environmental and health concerns.

Aedes aegyti feeding. This mosquito is one of the most important vectors of arbovirus infections, especially dengue and yellow fever, throughout the tropics. (Photo courtesy Wellcome Trust)

The researchers also expect that cinnamon oil could be a good mosquito repellant, though they have not yet tested it against adult mosquitoes. The most popular and effective repellant on the market today, DEET, also causes health problems in susceptible people, so chemists have been searching for a more benign but equally effective substance.

DEET is a chemical (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) used as the active ingredient in many insect repellent products. First developed by the U.S. Army in 1946, it is now widely used around the world, but may have toxic effects.

"Some persons who used products containing a high concentration such as 50 or 75 percent of DEET or who were exposed to excessive amounts of DEET experienced rashes, blisters, and skin and mucous membrane irritation. In a few cases of overdose and misuse, brain effects (encephalopathy) and seizures occurred in children," says the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

A recent study by Duke University pharmacologist Mohamed Abou-Donia details a list of neurological harms caused by DEET and other conventional insecticides, from memory loss to tremors to slurred speech. The study also found DEET caused brain cell death and severe behavioral changes in rats.

“These problems have highlighted the need for new strategies for mosquito larval control,” says Chang, adding that scientists are increasingly turning to more benign natural chemicals to ward off mosquitoes and other pests.

Larvicidal activity is judged with a measurement called LC50. “The LC50 value is the concentration that kills 50 percent of mosquito larvae in 24 hours,” Chang explains.

Lower LC50 translates into higher activity, because it takes a lower concentration to kill larvae in the same amount of time.

All four compounds had LC50 values of less than 50 parts per million (ppm), with cinnamaldehyde showing the strongest activity at an LC50 of 29 ppm.

By comparison, the LC50 of DEET is more than 50 ppm.

Mixed deciduous and broad-leaved evergreen forest in Taiwan. (Photo by David E. Boufford, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University)

The leaves of C. osmophloeum, which grows in Taiwan's forests, could be a more economical and sustainable source of cinnamon oil than isolating it from bark, Chang says.

Though the team only tested the oil against the yellow fever mosquito, cinnamon oil also should prove lethal to the larvae of other mosquito species, the researchers say. In further studies they plan to test cinnamon oil against other types of mosquitoes as well as different commercial pesticides.

“We think that cinnamon oil might also affect adult mosquitoes by acting as a repellant,” Chang says.

Other common essential oils, such as catnip, have shown promise in fighting off mosquitoes, but Chang says that this is the first time researchers have demonstrated cinnamon's potential as a safe and effective pesticide.