If you want to welcome a bundle of pink, can tweaking your diet in other ways boost the chances?
The recently reported research did find moms-to-be who favored breakfast cereal and a potassium-rich diet delivered more boys than moms who skipped breakfast and took in fewer calories. But experts contacted by WebMD caution that the study simply found an association. There is no cause-and-effect proof that what you eat sways the outcome of conception, gender-wise, they say.
But that doesn't stop people -- everyone from your Grandma to the stranger in your gynecologist's waiting room -- from suggesting a variety of approaches to influence the sex of your unborn child. The list goes far beyond breakfast cereal and potassium-rich foods like bananas.
We asked reproductive experts, obstetricians, and those who promote some of the sex-selection methods to explain and weigh in on the options.
Breakfast Cereal and Sex Selection
In a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 740 newly pregnant British women recalled what they ate the year before conception. Those who ate breakfast cereals and potassium-rich foods and consumed more total calories daily delivered more boys compared to those who skipped breakfast and ate fewer total calories.
It's not certain whether the calories or the nutrients makes the difference, the researcher says, although the association is one that is seen in other animals, with well-fed mothers giving birth to males and less well-fed mothers delivering females.
Among the evolutionary theories as to why girls or boys are conceived is that parents in good condition favor male offspring or that the availability of resources and other factors affects the sex ratio. One study, for instance, shows that underfed hamsters tend to deliver females while hamsters not restricted on diet do not.
(What do you think about trying to determine the sex of your baby? Talk with others on WebMD's Pregnancy: 1st Trimester message board.)