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Want a Girl? Do Not Eat Bananas
Wish you could add a girl to your brood of boys? Or are you hoping for a Y chromosome among all those X ones? A new study out of Holland suggests that a pre-conception mother’s diet may play a bigger role than timing in whether she’ll give birth to a boy or a girl.
Researchers studied the ovulation cycles, frequency of intercourse and diets of women who hoped to be getting pregnant within a few months. One thing the scientists found was support for a frequently touted strategy: couples trying to have a girl increased their chances with more frequent sex, as long as they abstained immediately before or after ovulation.
More interestingly was the diet, which appeared to play a more dramatic role.
Of the 172 women in the study who were hoping for a girl (they had all previously given birth to boys), 80 of those who cut out salt and ate at least a pound of dairy each day went on to conceive girls.
An article in the U.K. Mail listed the girly foods, which are high in calcium or magnesium: yogurt and hard cheese, almonds, rhubarb and spinach, beans and Brazil nuts among others.
Salty and potassium-rich foods to cut out, unless your trying for a boy, are anything processed, bananas, anchovies, olives and potatoes, among others.
The fact that 80 percent of the women who were on the girl-making diet got pregnant with girls is pretty compelling. But I’d also like to know whether they were using timing method. And what percent of those on the timing method only got pregnant with girls. Can diet really make that much of a difference?
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[...] Want a Girl? Do Not Eat Bananas [...]
Labor and Delivery Nurse Confesses Her Rules of Childbirth | Strollerderby commented on Sep 07 10 at 4:31 pmbob commented on Sep 07 10 at 4:18 pmI think some numbers are off in the summary. From the article: “Their conclusions follow a five-year study involving 172 Western European women … Although many of the women dropped out of the survey because they failed to adhere to the strict dietary requirements or rules on when to have sex, 21 women stuck it out to the end. Of the 21, 16 gave birth to daughters – … almost 80 per cent.”
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It’s poetic that milk-based food is associated with girls and phallic thinks like bananas and salami with boys.
not a scientist but... commented on Sep 07 10 at 5:09 pmUm, did I miss something? Because I could swear it was the chromosome in the sperm that decided sex. How could a mom’s diet make any difference at all?
K. commented on Sep 07 10 at 11:19 pmYes, it is the chromosome in the sperm, however the pH levels in the uterus also contribute to which sperm are able to keep on swimming to find the egg. Diet has been suggested as a contributing factor in determining the pH level in a woman’s uterus.
bob commented on Sep 08 10 at 8:44 amWhile certainly intriguing, a healthy dose of skepticism is definitely called for. This is a small sample of 21 participants (the 172 number is entirely irrelevant because 151 of those dropped out of the study). Because it’s so small, it’s hard to discount the real possibility of a fluke. Imagine flipping a coin 21 times and getting 16 tails, rather than the predicted 10-11.
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Drawing conclusions about which nutrients out of all those present in the prescribed diets and/or which sex-timing factors get credit for the extra 5-6 girls is really going out on a limb.
Becca commented on Sep 09 10 at 7:51 pmGuess I am skeptical doesn’t sound like a very large study plus how can you really tell they wouldn’t have had a boy anyway. For me personally salty potatoes are my biggest vice in life and I have two girls.
Kate commented on Sep 10 10 at 11:33 amI immediately discredit any “Study report” in which the author doesn’t even know the appropriate use of “your” vs. “you’re.”
Sad.
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