Natrol Laments Low Carb,Vitamin E Sales, Lauds EFAs, BrainGrowth

Natrol Laments Low Carb,Vitamin E Sales, Lauds EFAs, BrainGrowth

CHATSWORTH, Calif.A26-percent sale decrease and net loss of $740,000 marked disappointing thirdquarter results from Natrol Inc. (NASDAQ:NTOL), which attributed the struggles to the low carbslowdown, the effects of bad publicity on vitamin E, and inventory cutbacks inthe mass market (which caused some returns).

The decline in year-over-year Carb Intercept sales is amajor factor when analyzing this years performance, said Elliott Balbert,chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Natrol (www.natrol.com). Balbert,who was recently honored in the Congressional Record bySen. Tom Harkin (R-Utah) for his work with the Dietary Supplement EducationAlliance (DSEA), added it would be unfair to say the category has evaporatedcompletely. Sales at some of Natrols best customers have stabilized, andrecent month-over-month performance is positivewe sold more Carb Interceptduring the third quarter of 2005 than during the second quarter of 2005.