Serious alert issued about dangerous supplement chemical

The New South Wales Ministry of Health (NSW Health) has issued a serious alert about weight loss products containing a chemical called 2,4-dinitrophenol, or DNP. 
 
Products containing DNP are sometimes referred to as ‘shredders’ and are marketed towards the fitness, weight loss and body building communities, but they are very dangerous and have even resulted in deaths overseas, and recently within Australia.
 
NSW Health has emphasised the danger posed by products containing DNP, and wants consumers and health professionals to understand there is no safe dose.
 
‘There is a myth that if used in small amounts, users will be safe, but DNP is an extremely toxic substance,’ Dr Kylie McArdle, Clinical Toxicologist and Intensive Care Physician at the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre, said.
 
‘There is no antidote and even with our best medical care, people can and have died using products containing the chemical.’
 
DNP operates by preventing ingested energy being stored as fat by instead releasing it as heat. This process raises body temperature which can lead to damage in the cells of organs including muscle, kidney and brain.
 
These effects can be perceived very quickly in some users.
 
‘People can become seriously unwell within hours of ingestion,’ Dr Marianne Gale, public health registrar at NSW Health, told the ABC.
 
‘This can include profuse sweating. People can experience a fast heart rate, fast breathing, and often they can progress quite quickly to having a seizure, to going into a coma and even into death.’
 
NSW Health cautions consumers to be extremely careful when purchasing weight loss supplements online, and avoid any products that mention DNP, or even any product from an unverified source that is spruiked as promoting weight loss.

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