Why sour boy and spicy girl?

Sour boy and spicy girl is a folk rumor in real life. During pregnancy, women's taste will easily change due to changes in hormones in the body. Sour boy and spicy girl is also a rumor. It is not scientific and should not be taken seriously. Generally speaking, the preference for sour food during pregnancy is due to the secretion of hormones in the body. Hormones can easily affect stomach acid and cause a decrease in stomach acid, so it is easy to like sour food.

Why sour boy and spicy girl?

"Sour food means a boy, spicy food means a girl" is one of the most widely circulated rumors about whether a baby is a boy or a girl. The gender of the baby in the belly is determined by the changes in the expectant mother's eating habits after pregnancy. If a mother likes sour food, she will give birth to a boy, and if she likes spicy food, she will give birth to a girl. In fact, if a pregnant woman has a decreased appetite, is sensitive to smells, is addicted to sour or spicy food, or even wants to eat foods that she does not usually like, these are all normal physiological responses to pregnancy. The reason is that endocrine activity changes after pregnancy and the placenta secretes human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone inhibits gastric acid secretion, reduces the amount of gastric acid secretion, thereby reducing the activity of digestive enzymes, affecting appetite and digestive function, and has nothing to do with the gender of the fetus.

In addition, the taste of pregnant women is also related to the eating habits of different regions and families. For example, food is sweet in the south, salty in the north, sour in the west and spicy in Sichuan, but there is no significant difference in the sex ratio of newborns in different places. The sex of the fetus is determined by sex chromosomes. There is no scientific basis for judging the sex of the fetus based solely on changes in the pregnant woman's taste.

Many people believe that if you like to eat sour food during pregnancy, it means you are going to have a boy, and if you want to eat spicy food, you may be having a girl. In fact, it makes no sense.

Research proves

Expert research has confirmed that pregnant women's preference for acidic foods is in line with their physiological and nutritional needs. After a woman becomes pregnant, the placenta of the mother and fetus will secrete a substance called chorionic gonadotropin, which inhibits gastric acid secretion, reduces gastric acid, and reduces the activity of digestive enzymes, thereby affecting the gastrointestinal digestion and absorption function, causing pregnant women to have pregnancy reactions such as nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Since taste can stimulate the stomach to secrete gastric juice, increase the activity of digestive enzymes, promote gastrointestinal motility, increase appetite, and facilitate food digestion and absorption, most pregnant women like to eat sour food.

Generally speaking, human chorionic gonadotropin begins to increase about one month after pregnancy and reaches its peak at two months. This is why pregnant women prefer sour food in the early stages of pregnancy. Some pregnant women prefer spicy food, which is an individual preference for irritating food.

Whether it is a boy or a girl is determined by the chromosomes of the human being. Males have two sex chromosomes, one is X and the other is Y, forming XY. The two sex chromosomes of women are both X, forming XX. Therefore, the mother's egg cells carry X sex chromosomes, while the father's sperm carries two types of sex chromosomes, one carrying X chromosomes and the other carrying Y chromosomes, which are called X-type sperm and Y-type sperm respectively. During fertilization, when the sperm carrying the X chromosome (ie, X type) combines with the egg, the baby's sex chromosomes will be XX, and the baby will be conceived as a girl; if the Y chromosome (ie, Y type) combines with the egg cell, the baby's sex chromosomes will be XY, and the baby will be conceived as a boy. Therefore, the key to determining whether the baby is a boy or a girl is not whether the taste is sour or spicy, but whether the sperm that combines with the egg cell carries an X chromosome or a Y chromosome. It also shows that whether a boy or a girl is born is completely random. Neither the husband nor the wife can decide the fate of the "gender" of the next generation and can only "leave it to fate."

So why do women want to eat sour things after pregnancy?

This is caused by insufficient stomach acid after a woman becomes pregnant. About 2/3 of women will experience insufficient stomach acid in the first 6 months of pregnancy, especially in the first 3 months. As a result, the stomach's activity and digestive ability are very poor, and the time it takes to empty food from the stomach is 1-2 hours longer than that of normal people. In order to compensate for the lack of stomach acid in the body, pregnant women naturally want to eat sour food. This is just like a person who sweats too much wanting to drink water. It is a natural compensatory reaction, which is beneficial to the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus. However, it will be harmful to the health of pregnant women and fetuses. For example, it is not advisable to eat too much rice vinegar, sour wine, pickled sauerkraut and other acidic and irritating foods.