Natural Compound

Forskolin

Forskolin (7β-acetoxy-8,13-epoxy-1α,6β,9α-trihydroxylabd-14-en-11-one)

Evidence TierCWADA NOT PROHIBITED

tuneTypical Dose

50 mg per day

watchEffect Window

12 weeks

check_circleCompliance

WADA NOT PROHIBITED

Overview

Clinical Summary

Forskolin is a diterpene from Coleus forskohlii that increases intracellular cAMP. It is used for body composition goals and for mechanistic bronchodilation and cardiovascular signaling claims.

Human evidence for forskolin is still dominated by one small 12-week trial in overweight men that reported favorable body-composition changes. Replication is sparse, and the data do not justify broad weight-loss or testosterone claims across populations. Mechanistic bronchodilation and cardiovascular signaling are interesting, but clinical supplement evidence remains limited.

Forskolin activates adenylyl cyclase, increasing intracellular cAMP to support lipolysis and androgenic/steroidogenic signaling. Secondary effects include vasodilatory shifts and heart-rate/BP modulation.

Outcomes

What This Is Expected To Influence

Primary Outcomes

  • reduces fat mass / body fat percentage
  • supports free testosterone

Secondary Outcomes

  • Potential lipolytic and steroidogenic pathway support via cAMP elevation

Safety

Contraindications and Interactions

Contraindications

  • Symptomatic hypotension
  • Bleeding disorders
  • Pregnancy/lactation
  • Severe endocrine/cardiac/renal/hepatic/psychiatric disease

Side effects

  • Low blood pressure
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Palpitations
  • Easy bruising

Interactions

  • Antihypertensives
  • Anticoagulants
  • Antiplatelets
  • Hormone-active agents

Avoid if

  • Active bleeding disorder
  • Symptomatic low blood pressure
  • High-risk medication stacks

Evidence

Study-level References

forskolin-SRC-001Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial
Sourceopen_in_new

Godard MP, Johnson BA, Richmond SR. Body composition and hormonal adaptations associated with forskolin consumption in overweight and obese men. Obes Res. 2005;13(8):1335-1343. doi:10.1038/oby.2005.162. PMID:16129715.

Population: Thirty overweight or obese men with BMI at or above 26 kg/m².

Dose protocol: 500 mg/day 10% forskolin extract (50 mg forskolin) over 12 weeks

Key findings: Reduced fat mass/body fat and preserved lean mass with reported testosterone increase signals.

Notes: Evidence is interesting but still too narrow for strong general-population certainty.

Paper content

This small male-only RCT found favorable DXA body-composition changes with forskolin over 12 weeks. The result is hypothesis-supporting rather than definitive because the sample was small and replication is sparse.

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