Coconut oil against ticks: effect and application

Coconut oil can help against ticks – making it a safe alternative to chemical agents. Find out how coconut oil works here.

Ticks are not only a nuisance, they are also a health hazard. They transmit TBE (early summer meningoencephalitis) and borreliosis. About five percent of adult ticks carry the TBE virus and even every tenth to second tick is a carrier of Borrelia. There is a particularly high risk of infection for people who spend a lot of time outside in spring and summer. Ticks prefer humid regions and wait in the undergrowth of forests, in high places grass or bushes on people and animals passing by.

Coconut oil: natural remedy for ticks?

To protect against tick bites, there are various insect sprays that are applied to the skin and clothing. The active ingredients Icaridin and DEET repel ticks. This deterrent effect was also observed with certain fatty acids – for example with Lauric acidthat are in Coconut oil is included.

• Researcher at the Free University of Berlin found when using a ten percent lauric acid solution that 81 to 100 percent of ticks dropped from the tested surface after applying the solution. The lauric acid solution even offers better protection than the synthetic repellants.
• Carefully treated, cold-pressed coconut oil contains up to 50 percent lauric acid and is therefore a suitable natural tick repellent.
• You can simply apply the coconut oil to the skin before going out – the deterrent effect lasts for up to six hours.

As a natural product, you can also use coconut oil for pets. Dogs and cats running freely are just as vulnerable to ticks as humans. By rubbing your pet’s ears, neck, and back with the oil before going out, you can reduce the risk of a tick bite.

Avoiding tick bites is the best protection

There are currently no further studies on the effectiveness of coconut oil against ticks. It is therefore still true: Prevention is the best Protection against ticks.

If you are out and about in nature in spring or summer, it is best to wear long, light-colored clothes, pull your socks over your trouser legs and search your body for ticks at home. A Lyme disease-You can avoid infection if you remove the tick within 24 hours of the bite.

If you are regularly outside and in one of the TBE risk areas you can also think about a preventive vaccination against TBE. Unlike Lyme disease, one can TBE-Infection occurs immediately after the tick bite and is not treatable with antibiotics.

Read more on Utopia:

• Coconut oil application: healthy effects on skin, teeth and more
• Removing ticks: this is how it works without risk
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