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I could hardly believe my luck that my gender indication thirst has been quenched by, of all sources, the NYtimes.
Check out this blog from health writer Parker-Pope on the relationship of heavy eaters and the birth of boys. Now I just have to wonder, did I skip breakfast on December 1?
Boy or Girl? The Answer May Depend on Mom’s Eating Habits
How much a mother eats at the time of conception may influence whether she gives birth to a boy or a girl, a new report shows.
The sex of a child may depend on a mother’s eating habits. (Paul Hilton for The New York Times)The report, from researchers at Oxford and the University of Exeter in England, is said to be the first evidence that a child’s sex is associated with a mother’s diet. Although sex is genetically determined by whether sperm from the father supplies an X or Y chromosome, it appears that a mother’s body can favor the successful development of a male or female embryo.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, shows a link between higher energy intake around the time of conception and the birth of sons. The difference is not huge, but it may be enough to help explain the falling birthrate of boys in industrialized countries, including the United States and Britain.
The reason food intake may influence the development of one sex of infant rather than another isn’t fully understood. However, in vitro fertilization studies show that high levels of glucose encourage the growth of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos.
It may be that male embryos are less viable in women who regularly limit food intake, such as skipping breakfast, which is known to depress glucose levels. A low glucose level may be interpreted by the body as indicating poor environmental conditions and low food availability, the researchers said.
The data is based on a study of 740 first-time pregnant mothers in Britain who didn’t know the sex of their fetus. They provided records of their eating habits before and during the early stages of pregnancy, and researchers analyzed the data based on estimated calorie intake at the time of conception. Among women who ate the most, 56 percent had sons, compared with 45 percent among women who ate the least. As well as consuming more calories, women who had sons were more likely to have eaten a higher quantity and wider range of nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. There was also a strong correlation between women eating breakfast cereals and producing sons.
The data are limited by the fact that they are based on self-reported food intake, which can be unreliable. However, the consistency of the trend offers an explanation for the small but consistent decline in the proportion of boys born in industrialized countries over the last 40 years, where even though women in general appear to be consuming more, eating habits have changed.
In the United States, for instance, the proportion of adults eating breakfast fell from 86 percent to 75 percent between 1965 and 1991. And although women may be eating more overall, a nutrient-poor diet could be less favorable to a male embryo. Glucose levels may also fluctuate in women who are dieting and trying to lose weight prior to pregnancy. In animals, more sons are produced when a mother ranks high in the group or has plentiful food resources.
I should really be writing my Christology midterm.
Instead I bring you a list of things they never tell you about pregnancy.
1) You are actually two more weeks pregnant than your “weeks pregnant.” So get this. The40 weeks of pregnancy are calculated not from the date of conception but from TWO WEEKS BEFORE. I was technically in week one of my pregnancy even before I ovulated. I’m not sure why you get two bonus weeks (you start counting from your last menstrual period) but there it is.
2) If this is your first pregnancy, chances are good you won’t actually look pregnant until after 4 months. I’m 4 months next week and don’t look even close to what I thought pregnant women looked like at 4 months. Maybe a little on the chubby side but I don’t anticipate the dreaded maternity clothes for another month.
3) There is so much more that you aren’t supposed to consume besides the stuff you know about (and which I long for every day as I long for the Messiah) like coffee and alcohol. Also on various lists I’ve come across: bacon, cold cuts, salami, ham, unpasteurized anything, seared fish, raw eggs (no cookie batter?!), Caesar salad, swordfish, green tea and lots of other teas and herbs that cause you to go into labor.
4 ) A really depressing one. While everyone is different, in the first trimester you really shouldn’t gain any weight (I gained 5 lbs between week 1 and week 13) because you don’t need to be eating any more than usual (the baby is the size of a kidney bean). In your second trimester you only need to eat 300 extra calories in order to help the baby grow. This roughly a HALF A TURKEY SANDWICH. That’s it! In your third trimester you only get to eat an extra 600 calories, one sandwich. So much for eating for two.
I feel like I was supposed to receive some pregnant woman confidentiality agreement in the mail saying I will never tell the secrets of childbearing. Seriously, am I the only one who had no idea about these things?
Above is a picture of what baby Flo-Bix generally looks like today, weighing in at roughly the size of an apple.
