Repelling Insects and Insect-Bite Prevention Information
This page provides general educational information. It is not medical advice, and it does not provide a diagnosis or a personal course of care.
Insects like mosquitoes and ticks find people largely through scent — carbon dioxide, body odor compounds, and skin chemistry all play a role in who gets bitten more than others. That’s part of why some people seem to attract bugs far more than the person standing right next to them. Most insect avoidance strategies focus on external repellents like DEET or picaridin, but there’s also long-running interest in whether certain internal factors — diet, skin chemistry, specific nutrients — make someone a less appealing target in the first place.
When professional advice matters
See a doctor for bites that show signs of infection (increasing redness, warmth, pus), a spreading rash, fever after a tick bite, or any known allergic reaction to insect bites or stings. Tick bites in areas where tick-borne illness is common deserve particular attention if a rash or flu-like symptoms follow.
Everyday wellness questions
Where and when bites tend to happen (time of day, location, season) can help identify the specific insects involved and the most effective prevention strategy, since mosquitoes and ticks require different approaches.
Explore insect-bite prevention topics
Here’s what we’ve written on insect repellent and prevention topics:
- Natural, internal approaches people research for insect avoidance
- Alternatives people research to DEET-based repellents
- The idea of repelling mosquitoes from the inside, rather than relying only on topical products
- Internal repellent approaches for regular outdoor activity
- Vitamin B1 and sulfur specifically, two of the most discussed nutrients in this space
- Mosquitoes and ticks together, since prevention strategies sometimes overlap
- Travel-specific considerations, especially in areas with higher insect activity
- Considerations specific to children
- Sulfur’s discussed role in this category specifically
- A closer look at evaluating natural insect repellent products
About Tarsul
Tarsul is a dietary supplement containing cream of tartar and MSM sulfur. It is not a substitute for individualized medical care or prescribed medicine. Follow the current product label for ingredients, directions, and warnings.
Natural Insect Repellent for Skin: Why Internal Protection is Better — a longer read covering what to look for, how the ingredients work, and when to see a doctor.
Common questions
Body chemistry, including how much carbon dioxide and certain scent compounds a person naturally emits, plays a large role, along with factors like blood type and skin bacteria — which is why it’s rarely just in someone’s imagination.
Interest in internal or dietary approaches (like B vitamins) goes back decades, though the scientific evidence is mixed and generally less robust than for topical repellents like DEET or picaridin, which remain the most consistently studied options.
If a rash develops (especially an expanding one), or if fever, fatigue, or joint pain follow a tick bite, it’s worth being seen promptly, particularly in regions where tick-borne illness is more common.
For general product questions, contact Tarsul. For product directions and safety information, review the Tarsul Product Directions and Safety Information page, or see current product options.
Tarsul contains just two things. Cream of tartar is a concentrated potassium source — how much potassium, and who should check with a doctor first, is covered there. MSM sulfur covers what the human research does and does not show, plus dosage and side effects.
About this page — last reviewed September 2026
Published by Tarsul, a family-run dietary supplement company operating from San Diego, California since 2010. Written and reviewed in-house by Russ Guillemot, founder, drawing on fifteen years of direct correspondence with customers and wholesale accounts. We are not physicians and nothing here is a diagnosis or a course of treatment.
Where we reference published research we name the authors and the journal so you can look it up yourself. Where something is a common observation rather than a finding, we say so plainly. If a claim cannot be sourced, we leave it out.
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.