'Brain food' not as popular as expected ahead of exam

Although many parents in China believe good nutrition will help their children perform better in the national college entrance exam, which takes place over the weekend, some traditional online nutrition stores have had fewer sales than expected over the past weeks.

Wangbuliao, a Chinese nutrition company renowned for its brain nutrition products since the early 1990s, saw its sales peak right after Lunar New Year. Its most popular product at that time was a series of capsules to improve memory.

"But sales have actually declined a lot in the past month compared with March," said Yu, a sales manager at Wangbuliao's retail center in Dezhou, Shandong province. Yu declined to give his full name.