Mother's diet could be factor in baby's gender

Associated Press

United Kingdom-- British researchers say your gender may be determined by what your mom ate before she got pregnant.  

Scientists at the University of Exeter say women who eat a diet of potassium-rich foods, have hearty appetites and don't skip breakfast before they become pregnant raise the odds that they'll have a boy.

The study's lead author writes that the findings also fit with evidence from test-tube fertilization that male embryos thrive best in nutrient-rich lab cultures.

The study included about 700 first-time pregnant women in the United Kingdom.

The researchers asked the women about their eating habits in the year before they got pregnant. Fifty-six percent of those with the highest calorie intake had boys. Women who ate at least one bowl of breakfast cereal each day were 87 percent more likely to have boys than those who ate no more than a bowl a week.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British medical journal.  

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