A weight-loss study funded by the National Institutes of Health is being conducted by the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Maine. The study, led by Janet Whatley Blum, associate professor of exercise health and sports sciences, is examining the effects of calcium on dieting women.

Premenopausal women between the ages of 21 to 45, who need to lose 30 to 60 pounds and who are not currently dieting or participating in regular exercise, are eligible. Participants must also be nonsmokers in good health with normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and cannot be lactose intolerant or on birth control.

Participants need to be willing to follow a diet for six months, and attend weekly, then bi-weekly, meetings at the university’s Gorham campus.

Those interested can contact research assistant Rachel Doane at 780-5939 or [email protected]; or Blum at 780-4175 or [email protected].