The Royal College of Midwives has stressed that women who are trying to conceive should eat a balanced diet, after research claimed that women who ate a high-calorie diet were more likely to have a boy.

RCM deputy general secretary Louise Silverton said: "We would be concerned for the health of mothers and babies if women were adapting to a less healthy diet - for example stopping having a breakfast or reducing the range of nutrients they eat - in order to produce a child of a specific sex."

To read more about the research from Exeter University, go to www.exeter.ac.uk