A British study of how diet affects the health of new mothers and their babies produced the surprise finding that vegetarian women are more likely to have girls.

• Researchers monitored 5,942 pregnant women.

• Nearly 5% were vegetarian, a total of more than 250 women.

• They were mainly concerned with looking at things such as hemoglobin and birth weights, but the difference in sex ratio they discovered was completely unexpected.

• While the normal birth ratio in Britain is 106 boys born for every 100 girls, in the vegetarian women in the study, there were 81.5 boys born for every 100 girls.

• After finding these results, researchers decided to further test their surprise findings by extending their study for a further six months, looking exclusively at the sex of babies.

• The results, covering about 150 more vegetarian women, were "just about exactly the same," the study authors report.

Previous studies have shown that diets high in potassium, calcium and magnesium will produce more male births, but there is no evidence that a vegetarian diet is low in these elements.

Researchers suggest that a further study could be carried out to investigate whether the diet of fathers affects the sex of their children.

Practising Midwife August, 2000

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Further documentation that a vegetarian diet is not what most of us were designed to eat. Most everyone knows that I am a strong advocate of vegetables and I believe that they are one of the keys to staying healthy. It is most curious that vegetables is the root of the word vegetarian, but my experience is that many, if not most, eat far more grains than vegetables. Avoidance of animal protein for long periods seems to produce nutritional deficiencies in the vast majority of people. I am certain many vegetarians would strongly object to this, but there is a significant amount of compelling objective research to support this position. I would encourage anyone who is not yet convinced to seriously examine the links below. Previous studies have shown that high concentration of dioxin, possibly the most toxic man-made substance ever made, can also have the same effect of reducing the male birth rate (CLICK HERE). Midwifery Today Magazine is an excellent resource of good birth information. You can learn about safe and gentle birth, midwifery, pregnancy, breastfeeding and birth conferences. They also have magazines, books, audiotapes, and other resources. You can subscribe to their free weekly e-mail newsletter by going to www.midwiferytoday.com. Related Articles: Caveman Cuisine Confessions of a Former Vegan The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications