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The big trend in weight loss and diet aids this year will involve cutting back on risk, as retailers and suppliers shave off ephedra SKUs, rather than contend with fatter liability insurance bills.
With the Rand Corp.'s release of its findings on the safety of ephedra only two months away, ephedra dealers can't drop that hot potato fast enough.
Twinlab in November led the charge in eliminating ephedra from its diet aid lineup in time for the Rand announcement. This was no small decision-the natural health supplier's top three weight loss SKUs generated $4.8 million in food, drug and mass combined (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 12 weeks ended Dec. 29, according to Information Resources Inc. That represents more than 20 percent of Twinlab's net retail sales in its last reported quarter.
It wasn't a bad move either. Ephedra-free thermogenics now represent the fastest-moving segment in weight loss diet aids. For those 12 weeks, relative newcomers, including Cytodyne's Xenadrine EFX, pulled in a whopping $5 million in food, drug and mass (without Wal-Mart). PatentHealth's PatentLean raked in $2.4 million, a 644.7 percent jump in sales, compared with the same 12-week period...