Whenever I go for ice cream, I always see lots of little kids. My previous theory, devised after years of ethnographic research, was that kids really liked ice cream. But now a second possibility has emerged.

Maybe women who love ice cream just have more kids.

Using data from the Nurses Health Study, nutritionist Dr. Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health came to a surprising conclusion:

“It was a bit of a surprise to us that high-fat dairy foods were positively related to fertility. There is really not a very clear explanation. It is possible that dairy fat or something along with dairy fat such as the hormones in pregnant cows may be affecting ovulation in women.”

Dr. Chavarro goes on to discourage hooking up a mint chocolate chip IV. “The benefit is at as low as one serving a day,” he said.

By the way, I’m using the ice cream theme to shamelessly plug Denville Dairy, my parlor of choice. Sorry there weren’t any, you know, interesting photos of DD available.