Relationship between Desirable Fetus Gender and Type of Consumed Diet: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: The fetus's development can be influenced by the mother's nutrition in a variety of ways, including the gender of the fetus. However, several research have been published that suggest a link between maternal nutrition and the baby's gender. In other words, the baby's gender can be determined by the mother's nutrition. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between maternal diet and baby gender.

Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study to spot light on the relationship between maternal diet and baby gender. Since the aim of the study was to determine the relationship between maternal diet and baby gender among Saudi, this is the suitable design for this research. The study was carried out among Saudi population. Data were collected from general population using questionnaire during the period from April to October 2021.

Results: The study included the participation of 755 women from different age groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The most prevalent age group was 36-40 years (n= 193, 25.6%) followed by the age group more than 40 years (n= 189, 25%) while the least frequent age group was below 22 years (n= 83, 11%). The number of participants who reported having one children were 116 participants. On asking the participants who had male babies whether they craved for special food or not, their answers varied. Salty food, pickles and potato chips were preferred among 298 participants while sweets and chocolate were the favorite food among 155 participants. The special diet is statistically significant with the baby gender at p value of 0.001.

Conclusion: The current study showed that diet preference among mothers affects the gender of the baby as the results showed. Some mothers intentionally reported following special diet in order to have specific gender.