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.

尽情享用美味的Camembert奶酪却仍旧拥有美好的身材，法国女人实在是惹人羡妒。“Anglo-Saxons”为此写下了一整套日常食谱来解释为什么法国女人不会变胖。

研究发现，法国女性虽然确实在欧洲最为苗条，但这也不是白来的，她们对于自己体重的关注也是欧洲之冠。

法国国家人口统计学研究所的一份报告中，比较了西欧各国女性的BMI,结果发现法国女性的BMI平均值为23.2，是西欧各国女性中最低的。英国女性则有最高的BMI平均值——26.2，这已超出了正常BMI指数范围——18.5-24.9

但是调查也显示出法国女性对自己要求过高，她们常常夸大自己的体重，并把自己想象的比实际要胖。法国女性体重不足的比例最高，但其中只有一半的人认为自己过瘦。

这份报告的作者，Thibaut de Saint Pol说，法国女性过于注重自己的体形了。她们的理想中的体重要比其它西欧国家女性理想的体重要低得多。他补充道，作为一个法国女人，体重不足显得更棒。报告发现，法国男性同样也是欧洲最修瘦的，他们的理想体重也比其他西欧男性要低。

这项调查出现的同时，塞满了巴黎药房橱窗的奇妙减肥配方引爆了夏季之前的减肥大潮，女性杂志上则是铺天盖地的诱人比基尼减肥计划。

研究还发现，在葡萄牙、西班牙、英国，由于理想体重比较高，所以人们都不太关注自己的体重。很多女性觉得自己太瘦了，虽然她们之中的大部分实际上并不是这样。

综观西欧各国，45%的人称他们不满意自己的体重。相比男性，更多的女性觉得自己超重了，这种忧虑看来将长存于她们的生活之中。