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Leading Brands, Inc. Announces Q3 Results

Net Loss for Quarter Improves Over Last Year

VANCOUVER, CANADA - January 6, 2005 - LEADING BRANDS, INC. (NASDAQ: LBIX), North America’s only fully integrated premium beverage company, announces its operating results, for the third quarter of its 2004 fiscal year ended November 30, 2004 and the first three quarters of this fiscal year.

During Q3 the Company recorded a net loss of ($434,000 US) [$539,000 Cdn] or ($0.03 US) [$0.04 Cdn] per share versus ($570,000 US) [$760,000 Cdn] or ($0.04 US) [$0.05 Cdn] in the same quarter last year.

Revenues for the quarter were $7,022,000 US [$8,731,000 Cdn] compared to $9,370,000US [$12,490,000 Cdn] in Q3 2003. The reduction in revenue principally resulted from (1) the discontinuance of the Little Debbie’s® snack cake distribution business; (2) change in mix of co-pack products sold that include the Company supplying raw materials; and (3) lower sales volumes in the United States due to the Company re-building its sales efforts there.

For the first nine months of its 2004 fiscal year ended February 28, 2005, the Company reported net income of $475,000 US [$677,000 Cdn] or $0.03 US [$0.04 Cdn] per share versus a net loss of ($262,000 US) [$336,000 Cdn] or ($0.02 US) [$0.02 Cdn] during the same period last year. Net income before taxes year to date is $1,331,000 US [$1,835,000 Cdn] or $0.09 US [$0.12 Cdn] per share, compared to a net loss before taxes of ($951,000 US) [$1,283,000 Cdn] or ($0.06 US) [$0.09 Cdn] for the first nine months of fiscal 2003. Revenues for the period were $27,434,000 US [$36,065,000 Cdn] versus $34,137,000 US [$47,354,000 Cdn] a year ago. The Company has adequate tax loss carry forwards to cover any income tax expense for this year and as such the income tax expense is a non-cash item in this period.

Leading Brands Chairman and CEO Ralph McRae said: “The key number for us is the comparative change in net income before taxes, year to date, which is a positive swing of $2,282,000 US, or $3,118,000 Cdn.”

Mr. McRae continued: “We continue to see margin improvements in virtually all areas of our company, but most significantly in our US and Canadian branded products and bottling plants. We anticipate that by the first quarter of fiscal 2005 the negative revenue comparison will have been eliminated due to an equalization of the reasons expressed.”

In conjunction with this release, you are invited to listen to the Company’s conference call, which will be held on Thursday, January 6, 2005, at 8:00 am, Pacific Time, (11:00 am Eastern Time), with Ralph McRae, Chairman and CEO of Leading Brands, Inc.

TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFERENCE CALL PLEASE DIAL-IN:

 1-416-641-6715

The Company will continue to provide operational updates in its monthly newsletter on the first of most months, posted at www.LBIX.com.”

About Leading Brands, Inc.
Leading Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:LBIX) is North America’s only fully integrated premium beverage company. The Company’s unique Integrated Distribution System (IDS) ™ offers turnkey, one-stop shopping to food and beverage brand owners, including manufacturing, distribution, sales/marketing and licensing. In addition, Leading Brands produces their own line of beverages such as TrueBlue®, LiteBlue®, TREK® Natural Sports Drinks, NITRO® Energy Drinks, INFINITY® Health Water™, Country Harvest® Juices, and Caesar’s® Cocktails.

Forward Looking Statements
Certain information contained in this press release includes forward-looking statements. Words such as “believe”, “expect,” “will,” or comparable terms, are intended to identify forward-looking statements concerning the Company’s expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, objectives, future events or performance and other developments. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof. Such statements speak only as of the date hereof. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s estimations and projections are disclosed in the Company’s securities filings and include, but are not limited to, the following: general economic conditions, weather conditions, changing beverage consumption trends, pricing, availability of raw materials, economic uncertainties (including currency exchange rates), government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition and other risk factors described from time to time in securities reports filed by Leading Brands, Inc.

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