If You Eat Breakfast, You Might Have a Boy
Tara Parker-Pope reports today in the The New York Times about a study from Oxford and the University of Exeter in England that claims that a baby’s gender may be determined by the mother’s diet. According to the study those mothers who have a higher glucose level have a better chance of having a son. Generally, women who eat breakfast maintain a higher glucose level.
The data is based on a study of 740 first-time pregnant mothers in Britain who didn’t know the sex of their fetus. They provided records of their eating habits before and during the early stages of pregnancy, and researchers analyzed the data based on estimated calorie intake at the time of conception. Among women who ate the most, 56 percent had sons, compared with 45 percent among women who ate the least. As well as consuming more calories, women who had sons were more likely to have eaten a higher quantity and wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. There was also a strong correlation between women eating breakfast cereals and producing sons.
The study does acknowledge that a baby’s gender is determined by the male sperm with an X or Y chromosome, but the condition of the mom may have an influence.
Frankly, I find this as silly as people telling me that I was having a boy, because I was carrying high. (I actually had a girl.) Although, maybe next time I am trying to conceive I won’t feel as guilty eating all my breakfast cheerios.
Do you believe that the report could be true? What other things have you heard to try when trying to conceive for a particular gender?
Share the fun: Email + Del.icio.us + Digg + Technorati
LOL That’s funny! I have 2 girls and 1 boy. I rarely eat breakfast regardless. So that didn’t effect my kids’ genders. I heard that what position you are in during sex can help conceive a boy or girl. Didn’t work for me either. I don’t believe in any of that stuff anyway.
Let me just say that I eat cereal for breakfast religiously. It has been that way since childhood and will probably never change. That being said, I have a daughter so I don’t see how that could be true! It’s an interesting theory but I think there will be plenty of moms out there who can debunk it in an instant.
And you’re right, it’s just like all those other gender superstitions out there! Although they were certainly fun to think about when I was pregnant.
Maybe the extra nutrition helps the male sperms make it long enough to fertilize the egg since we the male sperm die off quicker than the female sperm??
My friend April swears by the timing method in choosing your babies gender and it worked for her all three times! The heart rate and Chinese calendar method were wrong with both of my children. The wedding ring and thread were right on though. I think all of those superstitious things are a lot of fun, and while I know they’re not accurate, I think it’s a fun way to guess. I did carry my son very differently than my daughter. My belly with my daughter was all the way around and with my son it stuck more out….BUT, I gained half the weight with my son than I did with my daughter. We’re not going to find out the sex if we have another one.
I eat religiously period and I had a girl. Don’t they have something more important and necessary to research?!
I’m with Julie. I LOVE cereal and ate it at least twice a day for a good part of my pregnancy. It wasn’t really a craving… I just stopped dieting and decided ceral was a great dessert!
Oh, and thank my Lucky Charms, I have a little girl.
I read the whole report (not the news article), and it seems to me that all it says is, “eating breakfast cereals prior to conception is just one of about a thousand factors that can influence the sex of the baby, and this is why…”
PRIOR TO CONCEPTION is the key phrase.
I keep trying to process this… Does it mean that a well fed species needs more men? Then is a malnourished group needing more women? OOOOHHHH! I get it, ’cause without women, our men would starve! NOW I get it. Makes perfect sense.
A book I read said that male sperm are faster but die more quickly and female sperm are slower and can live longer. So if you want a girl, have sex a few days before ovulation. If you want a boy, the day before or day of. The first few months when we were trying to get pregnant with Frida we tried for a girl. But then after a few unsuccessful months our goal became achieving pregnancy and the gender was less important. We got our girl nonetheless. Ha!
I saw that article… i don’t know. Seems a little suspect. But I have 2 girls so if i go for a third, I’ll be eating breakfast BIG TIME.