Evidence is mounting that mothers who observe better nutritional practices may in fact bear more male children, but not all the evidence on the issue is conclusive.
Scientists working from Oxford and Exeter universities in England have examined 740 mothers who were first time mothers. They were asked to keep food diaries, to record what and how much they ate, and when they ate or drank. After they had recorded information in their food diaries, they were collected, and the results tabulated by researchers.
The results on their face prove startling: Those women who ate higher quality food and calories of higher nutritional content appear to have conceived about 24 percent more boys, than women who did not observe as high a nutritional diet.
“Overall the ratio of boys to girls was about even in our study, but if women ate a nutrient high diet they were more likely to bear boys,” said Fiona Mathews. Miss Mathews is one of the lead authors and an Exeter University research fellow.
“Women who ate breakfast cereal and a good breakfast were much more likely to bear a boy child,” said Mathews.
Critics are quick to add that the male determines the sex of a child, by the sperm. “A correlation does not necessarily mean it is the truth,” said Dr. Paul Magarelli.
Dr. Magarelli is vice president of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society, and a critic of the new study.