Hi,
        I'm an avid dieter and the new miracle drug seems to involve thermo-
genics. The drug is claimed to stimulate the brown fat to burn cooking.net">food
creating eat as opposed to the fat being stored. There are all sorts of
warnings about fevers, elevated {*filter*} pressure and heart rate, ect..
        The silver lining is that apparently some weight loss does not
require a change in diet. Is this possible? Are the pills dangerous or just
hoaxes?

Karen

First off, if I'm not mistaken, only hibernating animals have brown fat,
not humans.

Secondly, your description sounds just like 2,4-dinitrophenol.  This is an
uncoupler of respiratory chain oxidative phosphorylation.  Put in layman's
terms, it short-circuits the mitochondria, causing cooking.net">food energy to be
turned into heat.

2,4-DNP was popular in the 1930's for weight reduction.  In controlled
amounts, it raises body temperature as the body compensates for the
reduced amount of useful energy available.  It is very dangerous.
It would be wiser to adjust to your present body form, rather than
play around with 2,4-DNP.

But if you insist, I suggest you look up the literature in your own
university library.  You can obtain 2,4-DNP by taking a first year
organic chemistry lab course and swiping it from the supplies (it's
a commonly-used reagent).

        Human infants do have bown fat deposits while {*filter*} humans are
believed not to have brown fat.
        Also while brown fat may play an important role in rousing
hibernators, it is definitely not limited to hibernating animals -- it
is a common energy source for nonshivering thermogenesis.

--
Edwin Barkdoll