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Leading Brands, Inc. Granted Canada-Wide License for Glaceau Vitaminwater

VANCOUVER, CANADA - February 28, 2002 - Leading Brands, Inc. LBIX, Canada's largest independent, fully integrated premium beverage company, is pleased to announce that it has been appointed by Energy Brands Inc. of Whitestone Queens New York as the exclusive licensee of Glaceau Vitaminwater for Canada. Under the terms of the multi-year agreement Leading Brands will both bottle and distribute the product.

Glaceau Vitaminwater is the leader in the nutrient enhanced water category and is one of the fastest growing beverages in the United States today. A low-calorie, fruit-flavored drink infused with electrolytes and nutrients, Vitaminwater is called 'The next generation of Bottled Water.' The product has been featured in numerous recent articles from Time Inc. to People Magazine.

Leading Brands Chairman & CEO Ralph D. McRae added: "We are very pleased to be able to introduce this new beverage category to Canada. When I saw Phil Mickelson walk off the 15th tee at last years Masters carrying a bottle of Glaceau Vitaminwater I knew we had to have the product. J. Darius Bikoff, Founder & President Energy Brands Inc., and his team have done a wonderful job of defining and building this category in the US. It is now our job to continue that momentum into Canada and bring some excitement to an otherwise bland water segment."

Vitaminwater is a low calorie, colorful, great tasting water sold in a novel package. According to Entertainment Weekly Magazine the product has been adopted by Elizabeth Hurley, Cher and Sarah Jessica Parker, to name a few. Leading Brands anticipates first year sales of the product, which will be introduced early Summer of 2002, to top $2,000,000US.

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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