Pregnant Women who Want Sons Should Not Skip Breakfast

If you want a son, you should not be skipping breakfast.

According to a new study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University, women who want to increase their chances of having boys should not skip breakfast. The team found that when women did not eat breakfast, they ended up having lower levels of glucose in their blood, which reduced their chances of being pregnant with a male fetus. The women's likelihood of having boys fell from the usual 51 percent to 45 percent.

For the study, the team had examined data from more than 700,000 women living in the United States. They focused on the gender of the women's babies in relation to whether or not they ate breakfast.

The goal of the study was to see if skipping breakfast can create stressful situations for the body that are similar to the stress created by times of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and wars. During these types of disasters, researchers have noticed that women tend to have fewer boys than girls.

Aside from likelihood of having boys, other studies have found that skipping breakfast can be detrimental to overall wellbeing particularly for people who are used to eating breakfast. Eating breakfast has also been linked to improving cognitive performance and energy levels.

The study was published in the journal, Biodemography And Social Biology.