In Chinese cultures, baby boy is very much expected as they will continue on their generation, carrying the family name. Most of Chinese families would try their best and would not stop conceiving until they get at least one boy in the family.
And maybe now there's good news for those who are trying to conceive for a baby boy. UK scientiests have recently revealed in their studies that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet. The higher energy intake is linked to males, and lower energy intake is linked to females.
Women who eat low calorie diets or who skip their breakfast at the time of conception, are more likely to give birth to baby girls. This may help to explain why the proportion of baby boys is falling in developed countries. Since in these countries, many young women choose to have low calorie diets.
Although a baby's sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos. The exact mechanism for this remains unclear.
The researchers conducted studies on 740 first-time pregnant mothers in the UK. They found that 56% of those in the group with the highest energy intake at the time of conception had sons, compared with 45% in the lowest group. Meanwhile, intakes during pregnancy were not associated with sex, which suggest that foetus sex is no longer affected by the mother's diet.
In addition to eating high calorie diets, the study has found that women giving births to more males were also more likely to have eaten a wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12.
It was also reported that women who consumed at least 1 bowl of breakfast cereal daily compared to those who ate less than or equal to 1 bowl a week, the statistics of giving births to male went up sharply.
The mechanism for diet affecting sex is not yet understood though.
This latest findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
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For reference
Title: You are what your mother eats: evidence for maternal preconception diet influencing foetal sex in humans
Author: Fiona Mathews et al
URL: http://journals.royalsociety.org
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5 comments:
oh is that right? hehe oh well, i need more than a good breakfast to get me fertile. :-)
oh r u married?
That's fascinating. Women have been trying to plan their child's gender for a long time. Do you think morning sickness contributes to the birth of more girls?
Dear Kathleen,
It's exciting to learn this yeah? Hahha. I now make sure eat a lot of healthy hi-calories breakfast. Hauaha..
Well, morning sickness would not determine gender. So don't worry about it (^-^)
thanks for visiting.
hope to see you more often (^-^)
Very interesting research.
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