A previous study found that an herbal extract of coleus forskohlii which contained 10% forskolin caused overweight and obese men to lose fat and gain muscle, however, a study from Baylor University found that forskolin does not cause weight loss in overweight women.

There was virtually no change in percent body fat or the amount of muscle in women after three months of taking forskolin.

"Results suggest that [coleus forskohlii] does not appear to promote weight loss but may help mitigate weight gain in overweight females with apparently no clinically significant side effects," the paper concluded. Read the entire article | Email this article

Men given 250 mg of forskolin extract containing 10% forskolin (25 mg of forskolin) twice a day lost 9.9 pounds of body fat and increased lean body mass by 8.1 pounds in three months compared to the placebo group which lost 1.1 pounds of body fat and gained 3.5 pounds of lean body mass according to a study from Michael Godard and others from the Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences' Applied Physiology Laboratory at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

"In summary, this study shows that forskolin causes positive changes in body composition in overweight and obese adult men," the paper concluded. Read the entire article | Email this article