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A tropical food that's being hailed by many as a possible solution to world hunger also contains compounds that could help prevent mosquitoes from spreading serious and deadly diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever.
Breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis, is a tropical staple food crop traditionally cultivated for more than 3,000 years throughout Oceania-Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The fruit is plentiful, starchy, and packed with nutrients. In addition to being a valuable, nutritious food, breadfruit is used in Hawaii and other regions to control insects. People burn dried clusters of flowers-technically known as "male inflorescences"-to repel flying insects, including mosquitoes.
Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service and Canada's University of British Columbia teamed together to identify the natural chemicals in breadfruit that deter insects.
"We found that three chemicals-capric, undecanoic, and lauric acids-were responsible...