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【medical-news】妇女受孕期间不吃早餐则多生女孩
Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:54am EDT
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - Women on low-calorie diets or who skip breakfast at the time of conception are more likely to give birth to girls than boys, British scientists said on Wednesday.
New research by the universities of Exeter and Oxford provides the first evidence that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet, and higher energy intake is linked to males.
"This research may help to explain why in developed countries, where many young women choose to have low-calorie diets, the proportion of boys born is falling," said Fiona Mathews of the University of Exeter.
There has been a small but consistent decline, of about one per 1,000 births annually, in the proportion of boys being born in industrialized countries over the past 40 years.
In humans, going without breakfast may be interpreted by the body as signaling low food availability, since it depresses levels of blood sugar.
Although sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female ones, although the exact mechanism is unclear.
Mathews and colleagues studied 740 first-time pregnant mothers in Britain and found 56 percent of those in the group with the highest energy intake at conception had sons, compared with 45 percent in the lowest group.
In evolutionary terms, this correlation may make sense.
Males' breeding potential is strongly influenced by fitness, while females breed more consistently.
"If a mother has plentiful resources then it can make sense to invest in producing a son because he is likely to produce more grandchildren than would a daughter. However, in leaner times having a daughter is a safer bet," Mathews said.
Some researchers have been sounding alarms for years over the change in sex ratios in developed countries and have in the past blamed pollutants and synthetic chemicals such as those found in some pesticides which disrupt human hormones.
The latest findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
(Editing by Chloe Fussell)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL2284780520080423 这个题目有意思，我还没见过那位女同事怀孕不吃早餐的，不止吃，而且简直是太丰盛了 不吃早餐容易生女孩
伦敦（路透社）--怀孕期间摄入低热量饮食或不吃早餐的妇女容易生女孩，英国科学家在星期二说，埃克塞特和牛津大学提供的研究证实小孩的性别和母亲的饮食有关，高热量的摄入容易生男孩。这项研究有助于解释为什么发达国家许多年轻妇女由于选择低热量饮食导致男孩出生率降低。埃克塞特大学Fiona Mathews说，过去的40来在工业化国家，男孩的出生比例有个小的但持续的降低，约每年千分之一。一般来说胎儿的性别由父亲决定，但是高水平的血糖会刺激男性胎儿的发育，而抑制女性胎儿，其确切的机理还不明确。Mathews和他的同事在英国研究了740例第一次怀孕的母亲，发现摄入高热量组56%怀的是男孩，而低热量的是45%。从进化上看，这种相关性可能是由道理的。男性的繁殖潜力能被周围适合性强烈地影响，而女性侧更具有一贯性。如果母亲有充足的资源，那么生男孩是显得可以理解的，因为男孩将比女孩能有更多的的子孙后代。而在资源较贫乏的时期，生女孩是一个安全的选择。多年来一些学者已经对发达国家性别比例的改变提出了警告，并将它归咎于一些污染物和化学品如能扰乱人类激素的杀虫剂。 Males' breeding potential is strongly influenced by fitness, while females breed more consistently-------------望指教 前面说到了evolutionary terms，从进化论的观点的话，fitness翻为“适应能力”觉得较为合适。
“男性的繁殖能力较易受其适应能力的影响，而女性的繁殖能力则较为稳定。”
个人拙见，望高手指教。 Males' breeding potential is strongly influenced by fitness, while females breed more consistently
根据上下文，早餐与血糖有关，
从进化的角度说，可能与这一时期的食物是否充足有关。
fitness
n 1: the condition of being suitable; "they had to prove their
fitness for the position" [syn: {fittingness}] [ant: {unfitness}]
2: good physical condition; being in shape or in condition
[syn: {physical fitness}, {good shape}, {good condition}]
[ant: {unfitness}]
3: fitness to traverse the seas [syn: {seaworthiness}]
4: the quality of being qualified
fitness 也可译成 2 健康状况
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-01-09 05:14
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