[cecilpl2]

> In hibernating bears and newborn humans, the turbines generate heat, which is stored in fat. More commonly, though, each turn of the wheel assembles a molecule of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP—the energy currency of our cells.

Interestingly, there is a (very effective!) weight-loss drug called DNP whose mechanism of action is to interfere with ATP generation in this manner. Essentially it makes it so that some non-trivial percentage of these "proton turbines" do not actually generate ATP. This means you burn a lot more calories at rest to generate the same amount of ATP, and also generate a lot of excess heat.

The risk is that if you take too much your core temperature increases too much and you can cook yourself to death. There's no treatment and overdoses are invariable fatal.

[csours]

DNP doesn't make you healthy and it doesn't reduce hunger. The hard part of reducing body fat and keeping it off is managing hunger.

[fredophile]

I don't think you'll find anyone suggesting that DNP is a good idea for weight maintenance or improved health. However, it will definitely help with short term weight loss if it doesn't kill you.

[quickthrower2]

Drug? Or poison?