One of the most anticipated questions people ask expecting parents is: "is it a boy or a girl?" Most parents wonder about this as well, whether for early preparation or other cultural reasons.

Through the years, many have claimed that certain activities and food have proven successful at influencing their unborn child's sex.

Now, researchers have found yet another factor that could influence a baby's sex even before conception: blood pressure.

A study published in the American Journal of Hypertension presented evidence that a mother's blood pressure before pregnancy can influence the sex of her future child. The observational cohort study followed 1,411 newly wed women from Liuyang, China, measuring their blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose levels at a median of 26.3 weeks before a non-twin pregnancy. The research observed the births of 739 boys and 672 girls.

Research showed that mothers who delivered male babies yielded a higher systolic blood pressure before pregnancy as compared to mothers who delivered female babies. The mothers in the study did not have any significant differences in age, education, body mass index, vices, and pre-existing diabetes or hypertension, and neither did their cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose levels significantly vary.

The figures in the study show a high blood pressure record to have a 1.5 greater probability of delivering a boy than a girl.

Other Factors That Can Influence Child's Sex

Other studies regarding the pre-birth factors that influence a child's sex are not behind either, as other researchers have already tried to look at the other factors that could possibly be significant in the determination of a child's sex at birth.

Cereal Consumption And Baby's Sex

One such study looked at the mother's food intake and its effects on a child's sex. They found that mothers of male babies had a higher intake of macro and micronutrients before and during their pregnancy. More surprising was the significant association between the intake of breakfast cereals and giving birth to a male baby. The odds were seen to be higher for a woman to give birth to a male child if she had eaten at least one bowl of cereal daily during the significant time period.

Earthquake And Stress

As strange as it seems, earthquakes have been seen as a factor that affects sex. In a 2013 study, researchers saw a significant decline in the secondary sex ratio after the semi-massive earthquake that hit an island in Greece in 2006. The findings suggest that psychological stress can affect the sex ratio in a population for a significant period of time.

Curiosity Over Child's Sex

Curiosity surrounding the factors that affect a child's sex pre-birth or even pre-conception has been around since the old ages. Even Mayans had a way of figuring out whether your child would be a girl or boy based on math and astronomy.

The Chinese also have an ancient sex predictor that can supposedly determine an unborn child's sex based on the lunar calendar and date of conception.

And interest in this unique biological experience continues.