DNP (2,4-dinitrophenol)
Also known as: dinitrophenol
Not a medicine and not a supplement: an industrial poison that has killed people, covered here to warn without ambiguity.
Legal status: UK: not a medicine. An industrial chemical and poison; since October 2023 importing, acquiring or possessing it requires an Explosives Precursors and Poisons licence, and selling it to the public without one is a criminal offence. It has caused deaths. Checked 2026-07-26.
Prohibited in sport: Yes — on the WADA Prohibited List.
What it is
DNP is an industrial chemical historically used in explosives manufacture and dye production. It uncouples oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria: energy that would be captured as ATP is released as heat instead. It was briefly sold as a diet drug in the 1930s and withdrawn after causing cataracts and deaths. It is not a medicine anywhere in the world.
What’s claimed
- Extreme, rapid fat loss
- Fat loss without dieting or training
- 'Safe if you respect it': a claim repeated widely in online forums
What the evidence shows
DNP does cause weight loss; the mechanism is real and that is precisely the problem. The mechanism is uncontrolled heat production, and there is no separation between the amount that burns fat and the amount that kills. There is no antidote. Deaths in the UK are documented and recurrent, often in young people, and typically from hyperthermia that does not respond to cooling. On any honest reading this is Not supported: not because the effect is absent, but because the effect is the toxicity.
The risks
- Fatal hyperthermia: body temperature rises uncontrollably, and there is no antidote; supportive care frequently fails. This is the usual cause of death.
- Narrow margin: the difference between an amount that produces weight loss and an amount that is fatal is small and varies between individuals and between batches.
- Cataracts, peripheral neuropathy, agranulocytosis and liver and kidney injury are all documented.
- Delayed onset: symptoms can appear hours after ingestion, by which point the exposure cannot be undone.
- Unregulated supply: sold as a powder or in capsules of entirely unknown concentration, so the margin above is not even knowable.
What needs monitoring
- There is no monitoring protocol, because there is no safe use. Anyone who has taken DNP and feels unwell, particularly if hot, sweating heavily or breathing fast, needs emergency care immediately and should say what they have taken.