Aminophylline and theophylline are medicines used to prevent and treat wheezing and other breathing difficulties caused by lung diseases such as asthma. These pharmaceutical ingredients are found in prescription bronchodilators—medications designed to open blocked air passageways in lungs—and also found in some cellulite lotions and creams. Aminophylline in particular gained notoriety as an ingredient in cellulite creams as a result of a study published in Obesity Research (November 1995, Supplemental, pages 561S-568S). However, the validity of this research was called into question because one of its authors was marketing an aminophylline cream being sold at the time, and thus was not considered an objective investigator. Also, the number of participants in the study was small, and most also were dieting and exercising at the same time they were applying the aminophylline cream. (Source: Annals of Pharmacotherapy, March 1996, pages 292-293.)
Doubt about aminophylline’s value was also revealed in research published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (September 1999, pages 1110-1114), which described a double-blind study that compared the effectiveness of three different treatments for cellulite on three separate groups of women. One investigated the twice-daily application of aminophylline cream compared with a placebo; another the twice-weekly treatment using endermologie (a machine rolled over the skin’s surface, which has been claimed to get rid of cellulite) on one leg and nothing on the other; and a third combining endermologie on both legs with the same cream regimen used by the first group. “No statistical difference existed in measurements between legs for any of the treatment groups…. [Even] The best subjective assessment, by the patients themselves, revealed that only 3 of 35 aminophylline-treated legs and 10 of 35 [e]ndermologie-treated legs [felt] their cellulite appearance improved.”
What keeps aminophylline in the spotlight is that there is research showing it to be lipolytic (meaning it can break down fat cells) when it is place in a petri dish containing fat cells in a laboratory setting. (Source: Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Aesthetic Surgery, November 2008, pages 1321-1324) However, there is no other research showing these ingredients to be successful when injected into people wanting to get rid of some fat cells; add to that the risk of absorption causing bronchial involvement when it is applied topically or injected remains unclear.