Obesity  increases  the  risk  of  developing  a  number  of  diseases such  as  insulin  resistance,  type  2
diabetes,  hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, stroke and heart  attack.  The  aim  of  this  study  was  to
investigate the impact of ethanolic root bark extract of Anthocleista vogelii on weight reduction in high
carbohydrate  diet  (HCD)  induced  obesity  in  male  Wistar  rats. Thirty  male  Wistar  rats  were  housed  in
three  steel  cages  containing  10  rats  each. For the  period  of  obesity  induction,  Group  1  was  fed  with
normal  pellet  diet  (NPD), while  Groups 2  and  3  were  fed  with  HCD  for  14  weeks. During  the  4  weeks
treatment  period,  Group  1 was  fed  with  NPD, Groups 2  and  3  were  fed  with  HCD,  and  only  Group  3
received  500  mg/kg  b.w A. vogelii extract. The  ethanolic  root  bark  extract  of A. vogelii significantly
decreased (P<0.05) food intake, body weight, total fat mass, adiposity index and low density lipoprotein
cholesterol,  but  showed  no  significant  difference  (P<0.05)  in body  mass  index, total  cholesterol,
triglycerides,  high  density  lipoprotein  cholesterol,  very  low  density  lipoprotein  cholesterol  when
compared with the  HCD  obese  control.  The  results  indicated  that  the ethanolic  root  bark  extract  of
Anthocleista vogelii has potential to reduce weight in animals.