Eat salt for a son, doctor says

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 23

Eat salt for a son, doctor says

NZPA-AAP London A French gynaecologist believes women can choose the sex of their children by their diet.

Dr Francois Papa said a lot of salt was the recipe for a son, and a pint of milk a day will produce a daughter.

The success rate was about 80 per cent, the doctor said in a recently published book, the “Daily Mail” newspaper reported. Dr Papa said that the diet should begin before conception and continue until pregnancy was confirmed.

All meat and fish are permitted in the “boy diet.” So too is beer, cider, wine,

and aperitifs. Oysters, shrimps, and wholemeal bread are out. Meat and fish are limited to four ounces a day in the “girl diet.” Coffee, tea, avocados, and salad tomatoes are banned.

The book quoting Dr Papa is mainly the work of a French television director, Ms Francoise Labro, who had the son she wanted after trying the salt diet.

The claims of the book have been doubted by a London gynaecologist, Dr Robert Winston. “It is unlikely that anything as simple as diet can determine sex,” he said.