This Might Explain Why Henry VIII Put On So Much Weight

So it seems as though, if you want to have a son, all the male half of a baby-making pair need to do is pick up a couple more burgers and have a beer.

It sounds like a dream come true (kind of...) but a real study carried out by Peking University Hospital, Shenzhen, claims that obese and overweight men are far more likely to produce a son.

8,500 couples going through fertility treatment were studied in the research, with slim - normal sized males fathering 611 boys and 569 girls, which falls in the bracket of a typical sex ratio. However, men who tipped the scales a little heavier than their slimmer counterparts were found to be 27% more likely to have a son, which is far higher than normal.

While the researchers have no idea what caused this result, one possibility could be female embryos created by overweight men may not be as strong as the male equivalent, while Simon Fishel, a leading British fertility expert, has said that overweight men make more ‘Y’ sperm, which create boys upon fertilisation.

Luckily we don't live in the days when everyone wants a son and girls are considered only useful for producing more sons. But if your partner fancies siring the next Irish rugby team, you might want to keep this info on the down low.

Via The Metro