Mom's diet may influence baby's sex, study says

Mothers-to-be who eat better deliver more boys — but critics aren't so sure

A recent study in Whales revealed interesting findings that correlated a mother’s diet at conception with the sex of her child. Mothers who did not eat breakfast and ate foods low in nutrition were more likely to have female children, whereas women who consumed breakfast daily, especially cereal, had a higher percentage of male babies. The correlation also depended on calorie intake, with the larger calorie intakes belonging to the mothers of sons.

This data is the first of its kind in that it found a correlation between a mother’s dietary intakes at conception to the sex of her child.

The study was hosted by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford in England. The Universities asked 740 first time mothers to keep an accurate food diary before and during the first trimester of pregnancy. The women were divided into three groups; a high nutrient, high calorie intake group, a low calorie, low nutrient intake group and the medium. The first group, which consumed the highest quantities of calories and nutritious food, delivered 56% male children, whereas the group which consumed the least amount of calories delivered only 45% males.

Odds of having a boy were much higher for women who ate at least one bowl of breakfast cereal a day compared to women who ate less than one bowl a week, the study said. Breakfast cereals are usually fortified by vitamins and minerals.

Critics of the study’s claims refer back to fertilization facts. The sex of the child is determined solely by the sex chromosome on the father’s sperm. However, it has been shown that in vitro fertilizations a male embryo is partial to an environment high in glucose. Women who don’t eat breakfast will have lower levels of glucose in the mornings, and therefore would not foster the growth of a male embryo as well as those that did.

Although I am not quite convinced that a women’s diet can influence her baby’s sex as much as the study may suggest, I found this article very interesting because I am personally fascinated and amazed at the embryonic development and fertility issues.

Full article- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24262928/