Do you want to give birth to a boy? We need to eat more porridge, especially for breakfast!
Scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford have received evidence that the sex of a child depends on the caloric content of the mother's diet during conception. It turned out that the use of energy-rich foods during this period increases the likelihood of having a boy.
As part of the study, scientists interviewed 740 English women with the first pregnancy who do not know the sex of their unborn child. All respondents provided information about their diet before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy. After that, the participants were divided into 3 groups, according to the calorie content of their daily diet during conception. The results of processing the data obtained showed that 56% of the participants in the group with the highest calorie intake had male infants, while for those who adhere to a low-calorie diet, this figure was only 45%. Moreover, the probability of a boy's birth also increased when the expectant mother consumed more and a wider range of vitamins and trace elements, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. A pronounced correlation was also found between the birth of sons and the consumption of breakfast and a large consumption of grain products.
The women who took part in the study corresponded to the average parameters for the UK in terms of weight, height and lifestyle. The data obtained by the authors also indicate that there is no connection between the use of alcohol and caffeine by a woman, as well as smoking in the period preceding conception, and the sex of the unborn child. There was also no correlation between the sex of the child and the mother's body mass index, and it is not surprising: the average calorie content of the daily diet in the group of women who gave birth to boys was only 130 kcal more than in the mothers of girls.
For more than 40 years, specialists have been registering a small (about 1 per 1,000 newborns per year), but persistent decline in the proportion of male infants born in developed countries, including the UK, USA and Canada. According to the results of earlier studies, in developed countries there is also a decrease in the average caloric intake of people, and the "obesity epidemic" is mostly due to a decrease in physical activity and changes in the quality of food and dietary regimes. There is also data according to which the refusal of breakfast is becoming more common in developed countries, so in the United States in the period from 1965 to 1991, the number of people having breakfast in the morning decreased from 86% to 75%.
According to the lead author of the study, Dr. Fiona Mathews, the data obtained partially explain the decline in the birth rate of boys observed in recent years. The reason for this may be that many young women adhere to a low-calorie diet to maintain a slim figure.
Experts have long known that many animals have more male offspring when the mother has access to a large amount of food resources or is dominant in the population. This phenomenon has been studied in the most detail on invertebrates, but it has also been recorded in horses, cows and some deer species. It is believed that the explanation of this phenomenon lies in some evolutionary mechanisms.
Potentially, males of most species can produce more offspring than females, but this largely depends on the size and social status of males, to the point that the weakest males may not find a mate at all. The chances of females to participate in the process of reproduction of offspring are much more equivalent. Therefore, if the female is not limited in food resources, the meaning of the birth of males increases, which will pass on more parental genes to the next generations than daughters. At the same time, in difficult times, the birth of a daughter is a more justified choice.
Despite the fact that the sex of the child is genetically determined by the sperm, apparently, the mother's body may prefer the conception of a fetus of one or another sex. The mechanisms of this phenomenon in mammals are still unclear, but specialists in in vitro fertilization know that high glucose levels promote the growth and development of male embryos and inhibit the development of female embryos. In the case of a person, refusing breakfast reduces glucose levels, which can be interpreted by the body as an indicator of poor living conditions and food shortages.
Full text of the article by Fiona Mathews, Paul J. Johnson & Andrew Neil You are what your mother eats: evidence for maternal preconception diet influencing foetal sex in humans is available on the Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences website.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of ScienceDaily
25.04.2008