Page Contents
by Perly Rodolfo
People thought that losing weight is all about reducing your meals and a lot of exercise. As vague as it is, weight loss is actually extremely difficult.
Studies show that only less than 20% of dieters succeed using common slimming methods. The rest seek shortcut solutions such as medicinal obesity drugs and surgical procedures.
While prescription drugs such as phentermine or orlistat are quite effective, they are also infamous for their side effects.
So people turn into another form of weight loss method – dietary supplements.
One of today’s most popular and highly regarded slimming agents is called forskolin.
Let’s take a detailed look at this herb and see if it can truly deliver positive results on your weight loss endeavors.
What is Forskolin?
Forskolin is not the actual herb but a chemical found in the roots of the Indian coleus forskohlii plant.
Since it came from India, it is first used as an Ayurvedic herb before it gained popularity in the weight loss community.
Experts suggest that forskolin does have essential health benefits. People use it for improving sexual disorders (erectile dysfunction, sex drive), high blood pressure, heart failure, cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, psoriasis, asthma, and many others.
Basically, forskolin has been shown to work on muscles in the heart and in the walls of the blood vessels. It produces a powerful heartbeat and widens your blood vessels.
This results in blood pressure reduction and other benefits.
But can it truly help you lose weight?
Here are the facts about forskolin’s alleged weight loss properties.
It Stimulates the Release of Stored Fat from Fat Cells
According to randomized controlled trials by NCBI, where 30 overweight volunteers were subjected to take either a placebo or forskolin supplementation.
15 men took 250mg of coleus forskohlii extract with 10% potency, twice a day for 12 weeks. Another group took the same amount of fake pills.
The results showed a significant difference in weight loss.
Men who took forskolin lost significant amounts of body fat, which greatly altered their body composition.
It Increases Testosterone Levels in Men
On the same clinical trial, forskolin supplementation helped increase the testosterone levels of the group who took the herb extract.
Testosterone is one of the key components of a healthy body in men. It boosts both physical and sexual health.
This hormone plays a key role in muscle mass, bone health, facial and pubic hair development, sex drive, libido, mood, mental functions, and of course, weight control.
Most dieters only use testosterone boosters because they can do many things – muscle growth and fat loss.
How does testosterone help you lose fat?
Well, the more you gain muscles, the leaner your body gets which helps lessen your fat, gives you better control of your weight and it will help increase your energy as well.
The more energy you have, the better you perform physically. So take advantage of forskolin’s effects on your workout capabilities to lose significant weight.
It Helps Mitigate Weight Gain
In another study, female volunteers took the same amount of forskolin extract (250mg with 10% extract), twice a day for twelve weeks.
Results showed that coleus forskohlii doesn’t appear to promote weight loss in overweight women though it helped lessen further weight gain.
In short, forskolin can help your body to avoid adding weight which is important if you need to stay in a specific weight for a time period.
Plus, forskolin causes no significant side effects.
Now What?
We now learned that forskolin can indeed trigger significant weight loss for you.
It is also effective as a standalone slimming agent without using other herbs such as green tea, guarana, or citrus Aurantium.
The question is, where can you get forskolin extract?
There is only one way to get this herb and that is by taking forskolin-based supplements.
There are tons of coleus forskohlii formulas in the market and most of them don’t offer real forskolin compounds.
Other dietary supplements use forskolin together with other slimming agents in their formulas to make their brands stand out and more effective.
But based on our research above, forskolin alone can give you weight loss so it is better if you take forskolin-only supplements.
Besides, this herb is also proven safe, unlike caffeine or guarana extracts that are known to cause stimulant-based adverse health effects.
If you like real forskolin herb formula, phen-alternatives.com offers tons of dietary supplements that feature forskolin brands.
Conclusion
Forskolin is a proven slimming agent though it is still best to take it together with your conventional weight loss methods such as diet and exercise.
Remember that weight loss doesn’t come overnight. You need to be patient with your weight loss goals and always plan ahead to keep you motivated.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18500958
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16129715
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1044-coleus.aspx?activeingredientid=1044