Oslo, Norway, 4 July 2000

Nutri Pharma Report Higher than Expected June Sales Following the Launch of Scan Diet®

Nutri Pharma ASA (Oslo Exchange:NUT), the Norwegian functional foods company, today reported higher-than-expected U.S. sales of Scan Diet, a patented soy protein-based meal replacement. Since its June 1st launch in General Nutrition Centers (GNC) stores, Scan Diet has become the top proprietary diet product in sales at GNC, with each of the three flavors (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) representing three out of the top four proprietary brand products in the diet product category.

"Scan Diet has proven to be one of our most successful product launches in the past few years," says Don Smith, SVP of Retail Sales, "The sales of Scan Diet have far exceeded my expectations".

Through an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement with General Nutrition Corporation, Scan Diet is available in over 4,200 GNC stores throughout the U.S. GNC has approximately $1.5 billion in net revenues, with 20 percent of retail sales coming from diet products according to the most recently filed 10-K. The market for liquid and powder weight control/nutritionals in the US is over $1.1 billion for the 52-week period ended 21/05/00 as reported by Information Resources, Inc. This very large category continues to have an annual growth rate of more than 8.5 percent.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration recently authorized the use of health claims about the role of soy protein in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). For more than a decade, Nutri Pharma has been investigating the benefits of soy protein and its role in weight-loss and weight maintenance. Nutri Pharma is continuing to invest in research and development with a U.S. based clinical trial at St. Luke's Roosevelt Obesity Center to support Nordic findings of weight loss and cholesterol lowering.

"We have been delighted with the exceptional impact that Scan Diet® has made on the U.S. market," said Michael Oredsson, Nutri Pharma's CEO. "Following its success in the Nordic countries, we are starting to see the realization of commercial success on an international platform, and the consequent optimized shareholder value."

Nutri Pharma ASA, based in Oslo, Norway, was founded by Dr Lars Høie, MD, PhD (Appl) and Trond Syvertsen (MBA) in 1993. The company is focusing on innovative functional foods based on proprietary soy-technology, and is committed to addressing the growing incidence of prevalent lifestyle disorders, including elevated cholesterol levels, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In March, Nutri Pharma signed a deal with Scania Dairies, which is in a joint venture with Danone, for cholesterol-lowering yoghurts in Sweden. In April, Nutri Pharma signed a co-branding agreement with Del Monte Foods International for cholesterol-lowering Abacor® fruit and vegetable juices. In May, the company signed an agreement with a leading bread manufacturer in the UK to develop a cholesterol-lowering breads. Early June, Nutri Pharma successfully launched Scan Diet(tm) with General Nutrition Corporation in the US. Nutri Pharma's weight-loss product Nutrilett® has held a market-leading position in the Nordic Countries since its launch in 1989 with aggregated sales in excess of $150 million. In May 2000, Nutri Pharma listed on the Main Board of the Oslo Stock Exchange, after a successful IPO in April, where NOK 500m was raised, and the company is now a composite of the total index.

For further information, please contact:

Michael Oredsson, CEO Nutri Pharma ASA.TEL: +45 3338 4000
David Speechly, PhD, MBA. Noonan/Russo Ltd.TEL: 0171 726 4452