6th June 2003
BABY BOYS INCREASE APPETITE OF MUMS-TO-BE
Growing baby boys demand more nutrition than baby girls when they're in the womb, causing mums-to-be to eat more, researchers claim.
Research published in the British Medical Journal, and carried out at the Harvard School of Public Health in America and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, looked at the dietary intake of 244 pregnant women. They discovered that, on average, women carrying boys had a 10 per cent higher energy intake and tended to eat more than women carrying girls.
Broken down further, mums-to-be of boys ate eight per cent more protein, nine per cent more carbohydrates, 11 per cent more animal fats and 15 per cent more vegetable fats.
According to the researchers, it's possible that a chemical may be secreted from the developing testicles, which stimulates a woman's appetite. It's already known that boys tend to be heavier than girls when born, so the researchers say they're now closer to understanding why this might be.
"It is widely accepted that on average newborn boys are heavier than newborn girls," said researcher Rulla Tamimi. "The findings give us a better understanding of why that is the case."
The good news, however, is that despite the increased appetite mums of boys don't tend to put on more weight themselves!
Where to next?- Did you eat more when you were carrying a boy? Tell us in the Your Shout discussion forum
- Find out what you should be eating during pregnancy
- Check out our guide to pregnancy
- Chat to others on the pregnancy board