Selena Walrond, 26, died five days after she started taking DNP, a drug that increases metabolic rate to burn calories and make bodybuilders and athletes lose weight more quickly. DNP is also used as a pesticide.
Walrond is believed to have bought the DNP from a Chinese website after searching the internet for diet pills in her desperation to lose weight.
DNP, or dinitrophenol, increases the taker's temperature and boosts metabolism by holding up cell respiration. Metabolism increases as the cell's breathing slows down, thus burning fat rapidly.
Walrond was found by her mother Anjennis feverish and in a cold bath to cool down after the drug sent her temperature high.
She was taken to the hospital but passed away after a cardiac arrest.
The Food Standards Agency has cautioned against the drug.
DNP has not been licensed and is illegal to sell in the UK. It has also been banned in the U.S. since 1983 because of its lethal side effects.
