Scientists claim they have found a new way for parents to predict the sex of their baby – and it has nothing to do with IVF gender selection.
According to researchers in Canada, your blood pressure holds the key to determining whether you will have a boy or a girl.
The team at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, have found that women with higher blood pressure are statistically more likely to have a son; this is in comparison to women with lower blood pressure readings.
Indeed, according to the study, women with the highest blood pressure readings were found to be 45 percent more likely to give birth to a boy.
As part of the study, the team analysed the data of 1400 Chinese women who were planning to have babies.
Each woman underwent a test before conceiving, where factors like age, education, smoking, BMI, cholesterol and blood sugar levels were measured.
Once the women had conceived, they had their blood pressure, cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose levels tested at the beginning and middle of their pregnancies.
Ultimately, the research team found that blood pressure had an impact on the eventual gender of the child; they found that the systolic blood pressure before pregnancy was higher in women who went on to have sons.
Commenting on the findings, lead researcher Dr Ravi Retnakaran said: “Higher maternal blood pressure before pregnancy emerged as an independent predictor of subsequently delivering a boy.”
