

"Reading '50 Shades of Grey' is acting like an aphrodisiac for women," according to the Global Editor in Chief of BabyCenter.com. We're not sure if that's a warning or simply a statement of fact. It surely can't be a good thing for our already over-populated planet but it seems that EL James has rather a lot to answer for. After all, it is, apparently, the popularity of her erotic Twilight fan-fiction that has caused a baby boom in the Western world.

The sado-masochistic trilogy has sold over 20 million copies in the last four months alone. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed (or perhaps everyone needs to be keeping their legs crossed) that we're not going to see a baby born for every novel sold or future generations are really going to have to eat into the green belt and woodland areas that we have been so diligently trying to save. One user at BabyCenter.com described the effect that reading James' novels had on her ability to conceive a child "I'm blessed that I have two healthy kids but I wanted that one more and I was sad," said Danielle. "Then Christian Grey entered my life." We're not entirely sure that she's suggesting Christian Grey is actually the father of her baby, of course, but he seems to have had a potent effect on her menstrual cycle, even from afar.

In honour of the raunchy work of fiction, one expectant mother who reckons she has '50 Shades of Grey' to thank for her conception has vowed to name her baby Anastasia if it's a girl. We guess we'll be seeing a spike in babies named Anastasia and Christian over the next year or so, then.?