A woman's diet around the time of conception may influence the gender of her baby, research suggests. The study suggests a high-calorie diet at this time - and regular breakfasts - might increase the odds of a boy.
23-04-2008
The researchers say the modern trend to opt for low calorie diets might explain why the proportion of boys is falling in developed countries.
The study, by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford, appears in the Royal Society journal Biological Sciences.
The study focused on 740 first-time pregnant mothers in the UK, who were asked to provide records of their eating habits before and during the early stages of pregnancy.
If a mother has plentiful resources then it can make sense to invest in producing a son because he is likely to produce more grandchildren than would a daughter
The researchers found 56% of women with the highest energy intake around the time of conception had boys, compared to just 45% among women with the lowest energy intake.
The average calorie intake for women who had sons was 2,413 a day, compared to 2,283 calories a day for women who had girls.
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