We know that diet definitely plays a role in fertility--but determining the sex of your baby by your breakfast choices may be too much to ask for--or not. Researchers recently reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B that women who ate more cereal, sodium and potassium, were more likely to conceive a boy. Fiona Mathews, lead researcher in the study, notes that women who ate more calories, along with more cereal, sodium and potassium had a 55% chance of having a boy. Those who ate the fewest calories had a 45% chance of having a boy. Either way, it's still close to 50%.
And whether the "cereal factor" helps determine baby's sex or not, there are many benefits of eating cereal:
- A great way to get your whole grains! Half the grains you eat, should be whole.
- A wonderful way to get a big dose of fiber in your diet. As much as 10-15 grams of fiber can be found in many bran based cereals. Twenty-five to thirty grams of fiber are recommended per day--most of us don't reach that goal.
- Eating cereal is also a wonderful way to get your calcium--either through dairy or fortified soy milk.
