Cereal = Boy....What do you think about this study???

Hi everyone, I have seen a ton of articles relating to the cereal/boy study, so I was wondering what people on here thought about it. It says that eating cereal in the morning leads to an 87% higher chance of having a boy. I thought possibly it might be the effect of eating breakfast, but the more I read, the more I saw that they specifically singled out cereal. I have been trying to AVOID all calcium, but now I am thinking about adding a bowl of cereal (which does have a lot of sodium and potassium) with a banana and half a cup of milk to my diet. Everything is just so contradictory everywhere I read things, and I find it all very confusing. Just wondering what you thought. Also, most of the studies say that a greater chance of a boy is linked to a wider array of minerals being eaten by the mother, and they specifically mention calcium as one of the minerals, along with sodium, potassium, and B-12 (there are one or two more but I can't remember them right now...). Odd? Let me know what you think. I'm trying to decide how to arrange my eating! :-) Anne

 

venus1:

Also, most of the studies say that a greater chance of a boy is linked to a wider array of minerals being eaten by the mother, and they specifically mention calcium as one of the minerals, along with sodium, potassium, and B-12 (there are one or two more but I can't remember them right now...). Odd? Let me know what you think. I'm trying to decide how to arrange my eating! :-) Anne

I think you're right about it being about the wide variety of minerals and nutrition. See Kristindoggirl's blog for a complete exploration of the science and theory behind this.

I am a huge fan of this study ("the Oxford study"), it completely fits in with the Trivers Willard hypothesis which has almost 40 years of similar studies in animals supporting it.  (the idea that mothers who are in great condition or whose condition is improving will tend to have more sons, while mothers who are in poor condition or who are losing condition will tend to have daughters.) 

The interesting thing about the Oxford study is, the scientists were not even studying gender ratio, they were studying a different thing entirely but when they got the results back they were shocked at the patterns that developed.  So it's not like they had a theory and then set out to prove it by means of a carefully designed study that was set up to verify their conclusions (unlike both Shettles and the FGD people).  To me, this makes their information more convincing.

It all comes down to the following idea - a less nutritious, lower protein, lower calorie diet sways pink, more nutritious, higher protein, higher calorie diet sways blue.  I agree that it doesn't entirely support the IG and FGD diets because there was a definite link to higher calcium intake and having boys.  But look at it this way - when those TTC girl switch to the IG/FGD diets, they are eating a very restricted diet, cutting out red meat, and a lot of times people end up losing weight.  And those TTC boys eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and red meat and often end up gaining a lot of weight.  So the IG/FGD diets really are doing a lot of what the Oxford study found to be true.

The author of the study, Fiona Matthews, believed that it was eating breakfast = more boys and the cereal was just a red herring, but I ate tons of cereal as a bedtime snack, never in the morning, when I conceived DS 3.  I agree that it may very well be because cereals are so highly fortified and are eaten with milk.  I drank tons of milk/ate lots of dairy products when I conceived all three of my sons and so it is hard for me to fully accept that calcium should be avoided when ttc blue.

NOTE - there has been some talk in the media that this study has been debunked due to 'mathematical errors'.  Well, I have looked into it extensively and the reason why it was debunked was because the authors of the study did not include the foods the women ate when they were already pregnant in their calculations!!  They used only the pre-conception diets, because as anyone with 1/2 a brain would realize, once you're pregnant, there is no way your baby's gender is going to change at that point regardless of what you eat, and virtually all women begin to eat a far more healthy and varied diet during their pregnancy anyway.  So this so-called mathematical error was in no way an error, the data is sound. 

 

Well... the only thing I can really say is:

 My entire life I've eaten cereal every morning (and then some). I absolutely love cereal. Also, I have always taken B-12 supplements "just because" and am currently pregnant with . That is just from personal experience... I don't really know much about swaying.

kristindoggirl:

it completely fits in with the Trivers Willard hypothesis which has almost 40 years of similar studies in animals supporting it

 

KDG, I think I wrote in my blog once about the study that found "beautiful women have more daughters", which related to TW?  I thought the study was very flawed (not to mention a little insulting considering my proportion of boy offspring, lol) but interesting.

NOt sure about this but can add that I have three sons and only occassionally eat cereal for breakfast!

I ate cereal with a sliced banana every morning for years. I have 3 sons. Now I just eat plain oatmeal (small bowl). The rest of my diet is generally very healthy though, all organic and vegetarian, always has been.

My mom has the same diet as I do and had me (a girl, hehe) but she doesn't eat a big breakfast, ever.

Also, all 3 times I gained about 5 pounds the month before I started ttc, not intentionally, it just seemed to happen with all 3 of my sons.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I modeled professionally for over 10 years and am finding that most of my friends who I worked with at the time have gone on to have at least one boy, many of them 2, I don't know any of them who had all girls, actually. I guess it depends on what your opinion of attractive is, most models tend to be very angular (not a traditionally feminine, pretty trait) but do have symetrical features which could be a signal of being exposed  to high estrogen in the womb, right? In any case, thought I'd share as I read about attractive people having more daughters, too. I know this isn't a scientific statement, I just found it interesting. My friend Kari-Anne has 2 boys and we've talked about the fact that everyone we knew years ago in NYC went on to have boys...

I normally dont eat cereal for breakfast and have 3 boys...pretty sure #4 is a boy too.

Thanks to all of you for the replies! Kristindoggirl - Thank you so much for so much informaion. I love when you respond to my posts - I know I will always get tons of info! :-) So, it seems to be a bit mixed opinion and experience wise in terms of cereal and boys, but what I am really wondering is....if I do add a bowl of cereal with a banana and a half a cup of milk, do you guys think it will really affect my boy sway b/c of the 1/2 cup of milk? I eat Fiber One, and it has 260mg of sodium, 330mg potassium, plus it says 10% calcium and 10%magnesium. I happen to like cereal and am at a loss as to what to eat for breakfast, since I usually eat egg whites every day, so if this would be OK, I would definitely do it. What do you think?

I LOVED cereal and have 2 boys. And I primarily ate the "healthy" cereal that had lots of vitamins and minerals... frosted shredded wheat, multigrain cheerios, raisin bran, etc. (notice I said loved... past tense... I have given it up in my quest for a girl! LOL!)

Oh yeah, and I usually drown my cereal in milk... so I had lots of milk and still had 2 boys.

I never ate any cereals before, during or after ttc and I had 3 boys! For the past 11 years I had two slices of toast every morning.

Luci

venus1:

Thanks to all of you for the replies! Kristindoggirl - Thank you so much for so much informaion. I love when you respond to my posts - I know I will always get tons of info! :-) So, it seems to be a bit mixed opinion and experience wise in terms of cereal and boys, but what I am really wondering is....if I do add a bowl of cereal with a banana and a half a cup of milk, do you guys think it will really affect my boy sway b/c of the 1/2 cup of milk? I eat Fiber One, and it has 260mg of sodium, 330mg potassium, plus it says 10% calcium and 10%magnesium. I happen to like cereal and am at a loss as to what to eat for breakfast, since I usually eat egg whites every day, so if this would be OK, I would definitely do it. What do you think?

 

Maybe eat dry cereal? Whether in the morning or as a snack during the day....

hcmk:

venus1:

Thanks to all of you for the replies! Kristindoggirl - Thank you so much for so much informaion. I love when you respond to my posts - I know I will always get tons of info! :-) So, it seems to be a bit mixed opinion and experience wise in terms of cereal and boys, but what I am really wondering is....if I do add a bowl of cereal with a banana and a half a cup of milk, do you guys think it will really affect my boy sway b/c of the 1/2 cup of milk? I eat Fiber One, and it has 260mg of sodium, 330mg potassium, plus it says 10% calcium and 10%magnesium. I happen to like cereal and am at a loss as to what to eat for breakfast, since I usually eat egg whites every day, so if this would be OK, I would definitely do it. What do you think?

 

Maybe eat dry cereal? Whether in the morning or as a snack during the day....

I ate mine with soy milk but what about rice milk or oat milk? Almond milk?

Pacific brand organic almond milk has 0% calcium.