EAS, 7-Eleven Say No to Ephedra

EAS, 7-Eleven Say No to Ephedra

GOLDEN, Colo.--EAS and 7-Eleven announced Jan. 22 they would nolonger sell ephedra-based products. According to a joint release, EAS ceasedproduction of its ephedra dietary supplements in 2002, and one of its majorcustomers, the 5,300-strong 7-Eleven, advised all of its locations to stop saleof all ephedra products.

"This is a consumer-driven decision for EAS," stated JimHeidenreich, EAS vice president of marketing. "We believe consumers areshowing a strong preference for non-ephedra weight management products."

In tandem with its withdrawal from the ephedra market, EAS announced a newnon-ephedra fat-burning supplement, Thermo DynamX, which contains green tea,mat and Citrus aurantium. It will become available to the public inMarch, when stores will have probably run out of existing EAS ephedra products.

David Lumley, president of EAS, told the Associated Press (AP) that theliability, insurance and regulatory issues surrounding the herb factored intothe decision to discontinue ephedra-based products. "The ephedra-basedproduct probably doesn't have a bright future," Lumley said. "It justdoesn't make sense to stay in it."

EAS stopped buying ephedra for its products in August, and 7-Eleven stoppedselling ephedra-based products effective Nov. 1. In January, the conveniencestore chain plans to introduce non-ephedra single-serve packets, which is howthese products are sold at 7-Elevens nationwide. "It looks like the non-ephedraproducts are being sold at the same pace as ephedra products so far," a7-Eleven spokesperson told INSIDER.

In fact, 7-Eleven's director of nonfood products, Alan Beach, told AP thatsales of all dietary supplements are growing at a rate of up to 5 percent in thechain. In terms of ephedra sales, approximately 2.5 percent of EAS's $300million annual revenue came from ephedra-based products.