The truth about DNP

DNP (2,4-Dinitrophenol) is perhaps the most infamous and lethal drug in bodybuilding. Historically, this brutal fat-burner has been used for the production of black dyes, explosives, ammunitions and pesticides, but it was also sold as an over-the-counter fat burner in the 1930s (it didn’t end well).

This drug is so powerful and thermogenic, that Soviet soldiers allegedly used it to cope with extremely low temperatures during WWII!

WHY IS DNP SO INFAMOUS?
DNP is infamous not only because it killed people who worked in factories where it was used to produce dyes, explosives and ammunition, but also because many people have died from overdosing it in the last couple of decades. The terrible thing about DNP is that once you overdose on it, it pretty much cooks you from the inside out and there’s virtually nothing you can do to stop it…

HOW DOES DNP WORK?
In essence, DNP “sabotages” mitochondrial ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) production, causing it to be less efficient, and causing the stored energy in ATP to be wasted as heat.
Since ATP’s function is to transport energy to living cells, the body needs to offset the lack of ATP (and thus lack of energy) by increasing metabolism, which results in fat loss.

THE BENEFITS OF DNP
Besides being perhaps the most effective fat-burning drug ever created, DNP has some very interesting positive properties:

DNP has been shown to reduce blood sugar and increase insulin sensitivity.
DNP is an effective treatment against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
DNP has been shown to cause apoptosis (cell death) of pulmonary cancer cells, meaning that it may be useful against certain types of cancer.

THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF DNP
Unfortunately, the aforementioned benefits lose attractiveness when one considers the side-effects of DNP. This drug is extremely dangerous if abused, and it can easily cause death in a short period of time.

The common side-effects of DNP are:

Fever due to increased body temperature.
Nausea.
Dizziness.
Headaches.
Excessive sweating (sweat often becomes yellow).
Tachycardia.
Tachypnea.
Skin flushing.
Skin rashes.
Terrible sleep.
Increased thirst.
Increased appetite (some users report the opposite though).

There have also been many reports of eye cataracts, and it is obvious that the mitochondrial ATP inhibition caused by DNP can have serious ramifications in the long run.
But what the final side-effect of DNP is DEATH. A mild overdose could be enough to cook someone from the inside out, and as I said before, nothing can be done to stop it!

DNP PROTOCOL FOR BODYBUILDERS
As I explain later in this post, I do not recommend DNP to anyone. However, people are still using it and there’s a chance that you will ignore my advice and take it anyway, so here’s the typical DNP protocol used in bodybuilding:
150 to 250mg a day for 10 to 14 days, followed by a time off period equal in length to the time on (for example, 10 days off if you took DNP for 10 days).

Some people then take the same dose again for the same period of time. If you do this, only do it one more time (so a total of 20-28 days) and then take a LONG break of many months before you even think about using it again.
At 36 hours, the half-life of DNP is really long, so dosing it once a day is more than enough.

In order to mitigate some of the common side-effects, you should be drinking A TON of water (5+ gallons a day), you should have a healthy diet with plenty of veggies and you should do cardio every single day.
Just know that, no matter what you do, your DNP experience will probably be shitty and you will not enjoy it at all.