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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Study shows bananas make baby boys |
| 2008-04-24 |
| Women can influence the gender of their child with what they eat before they conceive, according to new research that lends scientific support to age-old superstitions about pregnancy. "Well dear, you're the one who wants a daughter. The study says it's the only thing you're allowed to eat. Swallow." The discovery shows higher calorie intake prior to conception can significantly increase the chances of having a son while women on restricted diets are more likely to produce daughters. Scientists at Britain's Oxford and Exeter Universities, who studied eating habits of 740 women during their first-time pregnancies, say that their findings seem to back certain traditional links between diet and gender while disproving others. "We were able to confirm the old wives' tale that eating bananas and so having a high potassium intake was associated with having a boy, as was a high sodium intake," research leader Fiona Mathews, a specialist in mammalian biology at Exeter University, told the Guardian newspaper. "But the old take about drinking a lot of milk to have a girl doesn't seem to hold up. In fact, more calcium meant they were again more likely to have a boy." Mathews said the study pointed to a simple technique to influencing the chances of a male birth: Eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. "If you want a boy, eat a healthy diet with a high calorie intake, including breakfast," she told New Scientist magazine. "Of women eating cereals daily, 59 percent had boys, compared with only 43 percent who bore boys in the group eating less than a bowlful per week." The researchers said that a higher calorie intake prior to conception can increase the chances of having a son from ten to 11 boys in every 20 births, according to the study published in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B. They said it could explain why male births in richer countries are experiencing a slight reduction. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #6 HMMMMM, INTERESTING, does explain an OLD DREAM > In a future GUAM, a future male "relation" [FEELS/LOOKS LIKE ME BUT ISN'T] appears to had have an intense argument wid his femme better half over types/kinds of tropical fruits for her to eat during her pregnancy, per effect on GENDER. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-04-24 23:56 |
| #5 Oddly enough My daughter had a daughter while trying to keep her figure, and a boy when she didn't. Anecdotal, but seems to follow these findings. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-04-24 22:19 |
| #4 I dunno. My wife and I had five sons - and I don't think she ate breakfast much in those days, or a whole lot at other times. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-04-24 12:54 |
| #3 Of course, 3dc. Timing, too: intercourse before ovulation increases the chance of a girl, after of a boy (time rather than distance, of course). I have that information from a textbook written in 1981. The final sentence of the piece makes no sense, though. If richer preconception diets lead to more boys, then oughtn't the rate of male births increase in wealthier countries? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-24 11:45 |
| #2 If this is were true then the third world would have predominantly daughters and the first world predominantly sons. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2008-04-24 11:26 |
| #1 the little boy sperm don't have the distance endurance of the little girl ones... so if given the advantage of a closer point at injection boys have a better chance..... slinking off.... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-04-24 08:57 |