Lemondrop

You tell your friend if her outfit makes her look like a mentally unstable gypsy, or if the guy she's hitting on is a total d-bag, but would you tell her if you think she's overweight?

According to new research by digital scale company Tanita (talk about examining your key demographic), one in five British women is afraid to tell her BFF if she thinks her pal is overweight.

It kind of makes sense, since, according to the research, five percent of the women who are told it's time to trim down end the friendship.

The study finds that every woman has two friends she thinks should lose weight, but very few are actually willing to speak up. The number who do tell their friends that they need to start dropping some kilos is around 25 percent.

We wonder, is it really your place to criticize your friend's body? Women get bombarded by enough messages from the media and elsewhere about how thin is in -- shouldn't friends be sympathetic?

Tell us: Have you ever had a friend tell you that you're looking a little chubby? How did you respond? Is it ever OK to comment on someone's weight?