The Olneyville Times

SAYS FOOD CONTROLS SEX
Generous Diet Means a Girl; Scanty Food a Boy, Finds Philadelphia Doctor.

Philadelphia.—That sex of children may be predetermined is the conclusion reached by Dr. Israel Bram of this city after a study of 30 of his patients upon whom he experimented with special diet and also with medicine. His conclusions are given in the current number of a medical newspaper.

Dr. Bram says that an excess of nourishment in the mother may decide in favor of a female child, while a deficiency tends to the production of a male. A generous diet means a girl; a scanty one, with low proteid allowance, favors a boy. In support of this theory it is advanced that in times of financial panic or war, when a plentiful quantity of rich nitrogenous food is not available, male infants are in the preponderance.

The second theory is that sex is determined by the activity of the adrenal glands, those ductless glands above the kidneys, which secrete a substance that seems to have an important effect on the entire muscular and nervous system.

It is declared that in women who are deficient in the adrenal supply their offspring are female. It is therefore thought that the use of the extract of suprarenal glands of animals or a similar substance which would stimulate the adrenal glands would increase the chances of a male child.

Dr. Bram says that of 30 of his patients who placed themselves under his directions 26 gave birth to boys. "These results," he writes, "strongly indicate that the experiment employed was highly successful, and that we probably have at our disposal a means of controlling at will the sex of the unborn infant."

In accordance with these theories if a boy is desired the treatment is dietary and medicinal. Eggs, meat, fish and cheese are forbidden, and it is directed that the diet consist of such substances as cereals, fruits, potatoes milk, buttermilk and butter. Plenty of water is advised.