Girls are made of ... (News & Notes).

A British study of 5,942 pregnant women, including 250 vegetarians, found that for every 81.5 boys born to the vegetarian women, there were 100 girls. This is significant because the British average is 106 boys for every 100 girls born. Researchers indicated that the vegetarian mothers in this group avoided meat and fish. Additionally, they often avoided bottled milk during pregnancy. Although there is no conclusive evidence, British researchers believe that vegetarian mothers are more likely to give birth to girls.

One of the researchers put forth these theories:

* A vegetarian diet places stress on the female body, female fetuses are more robust and, therefore, survive the diet.

* A vegetarian diet changes the acidity of vaginal secretions, creating a hostile environment for sperm carrying male genetic information.

* The diet contains chemicals that mimic female sex hormones such as estrogen.

Researchers opposing these theories say that because it's the male chromosome that determines the sex of the baby, those diets should have been studied.

--http://cbc.ca, August 8, 2000 and http://new6.thdo.bbc.co.uk, August 7, 2000