For bite free travelling, eat Marmite

Mosquitoes hate Marmite. Well, there's a surprise. If you want to stay bite free on your next rip abroad, health experts are now telling us that Marmite holds the key.

Dr Martin Schweiger, a public health consultant in Communicable Disease Control at the Health Protection Agency regional laboratory in Leeds, revealed his secret weapon for the launch of a new advice leaflet for travelers. He told the Leeds Co-op Travel to make sure you pack a jar of Marmite.

"I can't give you an academic, scientific reason - but people who eat Marmite report getting fewer mosquito bites," says Dr Schweiger.

"It's nothing to do with spreading it on the skin - but the effect of eating it could be linked to the Vitamin B1 Thiamin that it contains. This theory is supported by the rise of malaria in countries where staple rice has been de-husked and the thiamine-rich outer coating is discarded.

Marmite aficionados have long known this jewel of a tip and have been bite free for years, but many suspecting it is the Vitamin B12 that wards off the mossies.

A Marmite spokesman said: "You either love it or hate it and mosquitoes are clearly not in the former category."

Seamus Waldron, from I Love/Hate Marmite.com suggests that "Eating Marmite on your travels repels mosquitoes, but attracts ex-pats, so make sure you pack a large jar."

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I searched the web for this info as my nephew in Canada is convinced that the reason he does not get bitten is because he eats marmite on toast every morning heather laing UK We where discussing mosqitoe bites today at work and i told my boss that if you ate marmite it stops the mosqitoes biting u as much and he laughed in my face!Wait till i show him this !!!!! he will be gutted :D I like marmite...alot A offlicence near u ? it really does seem to work, the buggers ate me to death last year, but now i've tried it (but i hate it too, even more than the mozzies) a teaspoon a day seems to keep the mozzies away. it's betting than scratching me legs till they come up in gross red blotches. mikey from uk, in thailand bangkok, cha-am, jomtien, udon thani. I'll have to try this. Klaussen's Dill Pickles (or any dill pickle that must be refrigerated) are also good at keeping mosquitoes at bay. Ricky Leiserson Massachusetts, USA Turkish mozzies HATE Marmite (and so did the waiters!!) but you can't beat marmite soldiers for breakfast ANYWHERE!! Marmitekid55 I am a brit living in south Georga USA and a marmite lover. I wish the mosquitoes here would read this article, they would rather bite me (a marmite eater) than the rest of my family, who never touch the stuff!! mandy Georgia, USA I've given up Marmite for lent :-( wish it would be over soon!!! Alice I wish I had known about Mosquitoes hate for Marmite when I did the Inka trail :-) Paddy Reading