THE nation watched as a group of overweight volunteers struggled to impress an exercise instructor with an iron will and fought cravings for sweets and cakes to shed pounds in ITV's Fat Club.

Now an Abbots Langley student is setting up her own "fat club" as part of a scientific study into diet and weight loss - and the search is on for willing participants.

With the number of obese people in Britain on the increase, Angelette Muller is looking for overweight women to take part in an 8-week study based at the YMCA in Watford.

The 27-year-old, who lives off College Road, is in the second year of an MSc in Neuroscience and Immunology at the University of Surrey, Roehampton.

Her project will compare the benefits of a calorie-controlled diet with a vegetarian diet and could help determined volunteers lose weight.

Those taking part, who must be aged between 21 to 50, should be prepared to spend one and a half hours per week at sessions, where they will be given advice on diet and exercise.

Like Fat Club the aim is to change their whole approach to eating although Ms Muller said her work bears only a passing resemblance to the programme. She said: "What I think was good about the programme was that they had an exercise instructor, dietician and psychologist and that is a very good combination for promoting weight loss.

"I wouldn't compare I'm doing with that but I do have a dietary component, an exercise component and look at all aspects of healthy weight loss.

"The lifestyle approach is more effective than some of the quick diets around. The fact it is an 8-week period means it can help people become used to the idea of changing their lifestyle over a lifetime rather than just for a short period of time."

Participants will be randomly placed in three groups. Two groups will be asked to go on diets and attend sessions at the YMCA and a third control group will simply be given advice on healthy eating and exercise but will not have to diet.

Their measurements will be taken at the beginning and end of the study and the results fed into Ms Muller's research, which should be completed by September.

Ms Muller said: "If they are committed, there is no reason why they shouldn't lose weight."

She added: "About 20 per cent of the adult population in the UK is obese and a lot more are overweight. I feel that a lot of people aren't really aware what they should do as there is a lot of conflicting information.

"It is vital we have a clear understanding about how to lose weight healthily. There are a lot of different diets around, lots of articles in magazines and it seems there isn't really a clear consensus of what is really important."

She added: "It is also important to remember there is a very big health risk attached to obesity so this is not just about losing weight but other health issues."

Ms Muller is confident that she will be able to find up to 90 volunteers to take part. She said: "There has been a lot of media coverage about obesity recently and it is the beginning of the year when many people think about starting diets. The programme runs until June and people like losing weight for the summer."

For more information about taking part visit the YMCA in Charter Place, Watford town centre, where you can also pick up an application form.