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Weight loss products are getting downright dangerous. A UK medical student called Sarah Houston passed away after taking DNP (2, 4 Dinitrophenol) a popular weight loss drug that's favoured by people looking to lose pounds quickly. They are very popular with bodybuilders and though they were banned in 1938 by authorities they are still easily available online. This is second high-profile case where the deadly weight loss drug has claimed a life. A few months ago, the drug took the life on an 18-year-old Indian student studying in the UK who was an avid bodybuilder.
The victim Sarah was a medical student from a family of doctors and she suffered from a certain amount of anxiety about her weight and was suffering from bulimia. Bulimia is an eating disorder in which victims often overeat followed by self-induced vomiting, purging and even fasting.
At her inquest yesterday, her coroner David Hinchliff said those deadly tablets were responsible for her death. Demanding a crackdown on the sale of the capsules, he said manufacturers knew they were bought for weight control the Daily Mail reports.
'The only motive for manufacturing a toxic substance as a slimming aid would be to profit from people who have the misfortune of having a condition such as Sarah's,' he said. 'Anyone who professionally manufactures capsules to be taken as a drug has the intention of people using it as a drug. Sarah's death is a consequence of that.'
DNP the dangers it poses
The drug pill was initially used in diet pills from 1933 to 1938 in the US. However, they were discontinued after that period after reports emerged that too much of it could prove to be lethal for humans and it was deemed too risky for human use though its mechanism of action is still under investigation as a potential way to end obesity. Despite its harmful side-effects, they continue to be used by athletes and bodybuilders before competitions to lose fat quickly, particularly before bodybuilding competitions. The drug is yellow and odourless and was earlier used as a herbicide and fungicide. It was launched as a slimming aid in the 1930s but was promptly banned due to side-effects. Depending on the amount consumed, symptoms vary from nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, sweating, dizziness, headaches, palpitations and could even lead to coma and death.
India.com Health View
There's a definite need to educate people about the dangers of weight loss products. People who are fat (or even who aren't) suffer from a great deal of insecurity and companies across the world was feeding on this fear pumping the markets with weight loss products that are ineffective at best and downright dangerous in some cases. Pills, creams, sauna belts, slimming centres none of these products work and the only thing that they will get rid of is money in your wallet.