A new experiment at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked at 18 pairs of identical twins, and 19 pairs of nonidentical twins, all of which being female. Each set of twins being studied placed their hand in a Y shaped tube to see which hand the mosquitoes preferred to bite. After comparing the results, there was more similarity between identical twins than nonidentical twins. Because identical twins share more DNA than nonidentical twins, and your genetics predict what type of body odors you produce, and certain body odors are thought to be more attractive than others to mosquitoes, scientist presume there is a link between genetics and attractiveness to mosquitoes.
I think that the fact that there was more similarity between identical than nonidentical twins does suggest a genetic link for attractiveness to mosquitoes, but I don't think that the body odors predicted from your genetics are necessarily the biggest factor at play
I personally seem to be targeted by any mosquito within range of me, so this article interested me greatly. I couldn't help but to wonder if the twins diets were monitored during this experiment. I have read that diet affects your attractiveness to mosquitos, and I begin to wonder if maybe the identical twins had more similar diets causing the results to appear the way they did?
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
I did not consider diet but that is a good idea. I personally seem to not be a target for mosquitoes
DeleteI once heard that blood type may be a reason why more people are bitten by mosquitoes. This article didn't really explain much as to what makes a person more susceptible to mosquitoes but it was an interesting read.
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