Study indicates connection between breakfast and gender of child conceived

A new study has found a direct link between breakfast and the gender of your baby. If you want to conceive a baby boy then have breakfast regularly and if you wish for a baby girl then skipping breakfast will do the trick.

The researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Exeter looked at the 740 first-time mothers' diets before and during pregnancy in Britain. They found that mothers who ate high calorie diet including bananas and were not skipping breakfast at the time of conception were linked to the birth of boys. At the same time, women who skipped their important meal of the day, i.e breakfast are more likely to have baby girls.

Lead author of the study, Fiona Matthews of the University of Exeter said, "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."

In the study, the women were asked to keep the record of their eating habits before and during conception. The scientists found that 56% of women who ate high calorie diet around the time of conception had sons, compared to just 45% among women who ate the least. The average calorie intake for women who had boys was 2,413 a day, compared to 2,283 calories a day for women who had girls. Though, the gap is not much but it could give an insight in the decreasing birthrate of boys in some countries including the UK, the USA and Canada.

The researchers also found that women who ate breakfast cereals regularly, around the time of conception gave birth to baby boys.

The study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, is the first direct evidence which shows that a mother's diet can determine a child's sex.

Various studies have shown that in animal kingdom, more sons are produced when a mother has plentiful resources or is of high ranking.

Dr Fiona Mathews explained, "Potentially, males of most species can father more offspring than females, but this can be strongly influenced by the size or social status of the male, with poor quality males failing to breed at all. Females, on the other hand, reproduce more consistently. 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. However, in leaner times having a daughter is a safer bet."