What really attracts mosquitoes? Your habits can make you a target

A recent field experiment suggests that certain habits make you extra tasty to mosquitoes. Beer drinkers, bed partners, and people who skip sunscreen drew more landings.

Sunscreen, on the other hand, seemed to blunt the bugs’ interest. The main takeaway is simple: nearly everyone attracts mosquitoes, but a few choices can tilt the odds.

Researchers from Radboud University Medical Center tested hundreds of volunteers at the Lowlands music festival in the Netherlands in August 2023.

The team posted their results as a preprint in bioRxiv after running a large, interactive “Mosquito Magnet Trial” on-site.

Mosquitoes at a music festival

The researchers built a small lab inside connected shipping containers and brought in about 1,700 female Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, a malaria vector raised under controlled conditions.

Each participant completed a short survey, blew into a clear test cage and then held a forearm against a perforated panel so the insects could smell – though not bite – the skin.

Cameras recorded three-minute trials while the researchers counted mosquito “landings” on the arm side versus a sugar pad decoy. In total, 465 participants were included in the analysis.

Beer, bedmates, and sunscreen

According to the researchers, mosquitoes showed a clear preference for the well-hydrated – on hops and grapes, that is. “Arm landings were significantly higher in beer drinkers compared to those who had nobly abstained for at least 12 hours,” they noted.

The pattern held even after accounting for other factors. The team also reported that people who had shared a tent or bed the previous night drew more landings than those who slept solo.

Meanwhile, sunscreen – especially when applied to the forearm and paired with a recent shower – was linked to fewer landings, suggesting it may mask skin odors or include ingredients that dampen attraction.

“We found that mosquitoes are drawn to those who avoid sunscreen, drink beer, and share their bed,” the experts wrote. “They simply have a taste for the hedonists among us.”

Beer drinkers are mosquito magnets

Beer drinkers experienced roughly a one-third bump in arm landings compared with recent abstainers, and sharing a bed showed a similar increase.

By contrast, using sunscreen on the forearm after a recent shower cut attraction by about half, according to statistical models that adjusted for overall mosquito activity in the cage and time-of-day patterns.

Despite popular lore, blood type did not emerge as a driver of attraction in this study. Most participants weren’t immune to attention either: only four people registered zero attempted landings during their three-minute test.

The team also explored whether skin bacteria might help explain differences and saw some hints – such as more Streptococcus on highly attractive skin – but nothing that clearly separated “mosquito magnets” from everyone else.

Field study, not lab trial

This was a big, lively field study rather than a tightly controlled lab experiment. Only one mosquito species was tested. Festival life adds its own mix of sweat, scents, and late nights.

The authors note selection bias toward science-curious volunteers and acknowledge that self-reported habits – like sunscreen timing or substance use – aren’t perfect.

Still, the experiment’s scale, the on-site video tracking and the consistent signals from beer, bed sharing and sunscreen make the findings hard to shrug off.

Basic protection against mosquitoes

If you enjoy a cold beer, you don’t have to swear off summer. Study lead author Sarah Blanken, a scientist at Radboud, said to simply wear long sleeves and use insect repellent.

Practical steps – repellent, covering up at dusk, and keeping up with sunscreen – will do more than agonizing over your blood type.

At a festival overflowing with music, sweat, and the unmistakable scent of humanity, the mosquitoes didn’t just swarm at random – they picked their targets.

A cold beer seemed to bump you higher up on their menu. If you’d shared a bed the night before, that, too, made you all the more appealing. Sunscreen – and maybe a shower -made you less of a target.

The setting was playful, but the message is useful: you can’t opt out of being a mosquito magnet, yet small, easy habits can make you less appetizing.

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