French women's reputation for remaining thin and glamorous while enjoying Camembert is so well established that envious "Anglo-Saxons" have written entire diet manuals explaining just why French women don't get fat.

    But while a new study has confirmed that French women are indeed the slimmest in western Europe, their slenderness, it has found, comes at a cost: they also worry the most about their weight.

    The report by France's National Institute of Demographic Studies compared body mass indexes in western Europe and found French women had the lowest average body mass index, at 23.2. British women had the highest average at 26.2, which was above the normal range considered healthy: 18.5 - 24.9.

    But the report also found French women set themselves very tough standards, had a tendency to exaggerate their weight and considered themselves fatter than they were. France had the highest proportion of women who were underweight, but only half of underweight French women thought they were too thin.

    The author of the report, Thibaut de Saint Pol, said French women put "a high pressure on their body". Their ideal weight was lower than other western European women's ideals. He added that being underweight as a woman was "particularly valued" in France. The report found that French men were also the slimmest in Europe and their ideal weight was lower than other western European men.

    The survey comes as Parisian pharmacy windows are crammed with miracle slimming formulas to kick-start the pre-summer dieting season and women's magazines are full of bikini weight-loss plans.

    In Portugal, Spain and the UK, where ideal weights are higher, there was a tendency to underestimate weight, the study found. The number of women who considered themselves to be too thin was greater than the number who actually were.

    Across western Europe, 45% of people said they were unhappy with their weight. More women than men considered themselves overweight and that worry tended to stay with them throughout their lives.

    盡情享用美味的Camembert奶酪卻仍舊擁有美好的身材，法國(guó)女人實(shí)在是惹人羨妒。“Anglo-Saxons”為此寫(xiě)下了一整套日常食譜來(lái)解釋為什么法國(guó)女人不會(huì)變胖。

    研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，法國(guó)女性雖然確實(shí)在歐洲最為苗條，但這也不是白來(lái)的，她們對(duì)于自己體重的關(guān)注也是歐洲之冠。

    法國(guó)國(guó)家人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)研究所的一份報(bào)告中，比較了西歐各國(guó)女性的BMI,結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)法國(guó)女性的BMI平均值為23.2，是西歐各國(guó)女性中最低的。英國(guó)女性則有最高的BMI平均值——26.2，這已超出了正常BMI指數(shù)范圍——18.5-24.9

    但是調(diào)查也顯示出法國(guó)女性對(duì)自己要求過(guò)高，她們常�？浯笞约旱捏w重，并把自己想象的比實(shí)際要胖。法國(guó)女性體重不足的比例最高，但其中只有一半的人認(rèn)為自己過(guò)瘦。

    這份報(bào)告的作者，Thibaut de Saint Pol說(shuō)，法國(guó)女性過(guò)于注重自己的體形了。她們的理想中的體重要比其它西歐國(guó)家女性理想的體重要低得多。他補(bǔ)充道，作為一個(gè)法國(guó)女人，體重不足顯得更棒。報(bào)告發(fā)現(xiàn)，法國(guó)男性同樣也是歐洲最修瘦的，他們的理想體重也比其他西歐男性要低。

    這項(xiàng)調(diào)查出現(xiàn)的同時(shí)，塞滿(mǎn)了巴黎藥房櫥窗的奇妙減肥配方引爆了夏季之前的減肥大潮，女性雜志上則是鋪天蓋地的誘人比基尼減肥計(jì)劃。

    研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，在葡萄牙、西班牙、英國(guó)，由于理想體重比較高，所以人們都不太關(guān)注自己的體重。很多女性覺(jué)得自己太瘦了，雖然她們之中的大部分實(shí)際上并不是這樣。

    綜觀西歐各國(guó)，45%的人稱(chēng)他們不滿(mǎn)意自己的體重。相比男性，更多的女性覺(jué)得自己超重了，這種憂(yōu)慮看來(lái)將長(zhǎng)存于她們的生活之中。