GNC will stop selling ephedra products
Friday, May 02, 2003
Associated Press
Nutritional supplement retailer General Nutrition Centers today announced that the company will stop selling products containing the weight-loss supplement ephedra at the end of June.
GNC president Michael Meyers said the Pittsburgh-based company believes the products are safe when used as directed, but the company has found that more customers are using ephedra-free products.
The Food and Drug Administration has said there is evidence that products containing the herb can cause serious health problems, such as heart attacks and strokes.
GNC has more than 5,300 retail stores in the United States and 26 foreign markets, including Canada and Mexico. The company is owned by Royal Numico, of the Netherlands, a baby-food maker and supplier of nutritional supplements.
Analysts have said business at many dietary supplement stores was damaged when news of ephedra’s potential side effects came out in 2002. Credit Suisse previously estimated GNC’s ephedra-related sales could drop 70 percent from 2001 levels.