Attention all prospective parents!
If it's boys you are looking for, then have another bowl of cereal for breakfast and throw an extra banana on top. It just could make the difference in determining whether you have a boy or a girl.
In an interesting twist to the whole issue of gender selection, scientists in England have found that the mother's diet can actually play a role in determining the sex of their baby, validating (sort of) the old wives' tale that eating bananas lends itself to having a boy.
The key, as reported yesterday by CNN (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/), appears to lie in the increased consumption of calories during the time before conception, especially when those calories are high in potassium, like bananas are, and sodium. Meanwhile, diets that are more restricted in calories tend the favor the selection of girls.
The study, conducted at Britain's Oxford and Exeter Universities, also found that an increased consumption of milk seemed to select for boys, contradicting the popular notion that it favored the birth of girls.
While the findings are based on sound science, the numbers themselves are not ((at least in my opinion) staggering: an increase in caloric intake resulted in 11 boys for every 20 births, as opposed to 10 out of 20.
Even still, it warrants a closer examination of the world of old wives tales regarding gender selection, where theories abound. While some have a scientific basis, many of them are based on myths and beliefs, yet have survived the test of time.
One of my favorites involves the father's occupation. It has been observed that men who work in high stress occupations, like airline pilots and astronauts, tend to have more girls. There are some who attribute this to the belief that female sperm (with an X-chromosomes) are more resilient and can swim faster than their male counterparts (with a Y-chromosome). As a consequence, under occupational duress, they are better suited to get to the egg.
Then again, there are the naysayers who believe that men who work in these sort of occupations tend to be alpha-males who prefer to marry less aggressive women. Aggression in women, or lack thereof, has been directly tied to testosterone levels, which in turn seems to favor boys when levels are high (aggressive), and girls when the levels are low (less aggressive).
Whatever theory you choose to embrace, there is no denying that the issue of predicting a baby's sex is on every prospective parents mind. Indeed, entire industries have sprung up in it's pursuit. Just go to Amazon.com and search for "gender selection" and you will no doubt qualify for free shipping.
And whatever you do, if you're a prospective mother who wants to have a baby boy, then tell your husband to quit his high stress occupation, be more dominant in your relationship, and by all means, have another bowl of cereal in the morning.
Oh, and don't forget the bananas. After all, every calorie counts, or in the words of Monty Python, "Every little sperm is precious."
