Crackdown on deadly weight loss drug used by bodybuilders

Crime-fighters have stepped up their drive against a deadly weight loss drug.

Bodybuilders and people trying to lose weight take “fat burner” dinitrophenol (DNP) pills. It is an industrial chemical which has been illegally sold as a diet aid.

It increases the body’s metabolism to dangerous levels and causes death by effectively “cooking” the body from within. The substance has been linked to more than 30 deaths in the UK. Ron Mcnaughton, head of the Scottish Food and Crime Unit, is now calling for the chemical to be reclassified as a poison to stop more deaths.

He said: “The use of DNP is not your classic food fraud but because people take it and eat it, it falls into a grey area and we have had to deal with it. We are working with colleagues in government to get that substance reclassified as a poison or a controlled drug. It is not safe to ingest in any circumstances.”

Known formally as 2,4-Dinitrophenol, DNP is used to make pesticides and explosives and can be deadly even in small amounts.

It causes the user’s metabolism to speed up, burning fat but can also lead the body to overheat, in the worst cases “cooking alive” people who have consumed it.

Marketed as a slimming aid a century ago, the powder was pulled in the United States in the 1930s after a string of deaths.

It has been illegal to sell in the UK for human consumption since 2003 but is available online as a diet drug or supplement.

Since 2007, 32 people have died from DNP in the UK, according to the National Poisons Information Service.

An unknown number have suffered injuries, from being left comatose to skin lesions, plummeting white blood cell counts and numbness in the feet and legs.

Online videos have emerged showing bodybuilders looking to lose fat quickly openly consuming DNP, talking about perceived benefits and sharing before and after photos.