In a recent study conducted in England where 740 newly pregnant British women participated showed that women who ate breakfast cereal gave birth to more boys, while the women who skipped breakfast gave birth to more girls. It was also shown that the women who ate more total calories also delivered more boys, even though the overall female-to-male birth ratio among the participants in the study was close to 50/50.
The women in the study completed a detailed food-frequency questionnaire during their first pregnancy exam and also well into their pregnancy, and they were asked to keep a detailed food journal for a week around the time of their fourth month into pregnancy. The women were also asked to recall their dietary habits during the year prior to conception.
Using the data gathered, the researchers determined that the women who ate the most calories around the time of conception were delivering more boys, with approximately 56 percent giving birth to male infants, compared with the 45 percent of the women who ate the fewest calories prior to conception. Mathews stated that of those women who reported eating breakfast cereal every morning, 59 percent of them gave birth to boys compared with the 43 percent of the women who reported rarely or never eating cereal for breakfast.
So, should a woman who wants her next child to be a girl skip breakfast a few weeks or months prior to conception? Isn't breakfast the most important meal of the day?