Abstract
MANY experiments on laboratory animals have shown that the nutrition of the dam can affect both litter size and viability. An early study indicated that breeding pairs of rats fed a poor diet also had an altered sex ratio in their offspring1, but no more precise nutritional studies of this have been made. Nutritional factors have not been considered amongst the determinants of the sex ratio at birth.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Slonaker, J. R., and Card, T. A., Am. J. Physiol., 64, 297–310 (1923).
Sinclair, A. J., and Crawford, M. A., Br. J. Nutr., 29, 127–137 (1973).
Svennerholm, L., Alling, C., Bruce, A., Karlsson, I., and Sapia, O., in Lipids, Malnutrition and the Developing Brain, (edit. by Elliot, K., and Knight, J.), 141–157 (Associated Scientific Publishers, Amsterdam, 1972).
Whitten, W. K., Science, 171, 406–407 (1971).
Holman, R. T., Prog. Chem. Fats, 9, 275–348 (1968).
Lyman, R. L., Prog. Chem. Fats, 9, 193–230 (1968).
Lyman, R. L., Ostwald, R., Bouchard, P., and Shannon, A., Biochem. J., 98, 438–450 (1966).
Bowers, C. Y., and Shally, A. V., Endocrinology, 76, 1047–1054 (1965).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
RIVERS, J., CRAWFORD, M. Maternal nutrition and the sex ratio at birth. Nature 252, 297–298 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252297a0
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252297a0
This article is cited by
-
Female-biased sex ratios are associated with higher maternal testosterone levels in nutria (Myocastor coypus)
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2018)
-
Litter sex ratios in Richardson’s ground squirrels: long-term data support random sex allocation and homeostasis
Oecologia (2014)
-
Why Is Infant Mortality Higher in Boys Than in Girls? A New Hypothesis Based on Preconception Environment and Evidence From a Large Sample of Twins
Demography (2013)
-
Programming of offspring sex ratios by maternal stress in humans: assessment of physiological mechanisms using a comparative approach
Journal of Comparative Physiology B (2010)
-
Nutritional skewing of conceptus sex in sheep: effects of a maternal diet enriched in rumen-protected polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology (2008)
