St. Louis ? For now, herbalist Cathy Burkemper will keep selling six cold and weight-loss products that contain ephedra at her Herbs & More store in the St. Louis suburb of Ellisville. The time soon will come when she’ll be forced to pull such items from her shelves.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would ban ephedra in 2004and strongly urged people not to take the herbal supplement in the meantime.

Ephedra has been linked to 155 deaths — including that of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler last February — and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

Despite the FDA ban, some Missouri store owners saw increased demand Wednesday for dietary supplements with ephedra, while others said the products already had been pulled from their shelves.

Burkemper said she may see if her supplier can increase her short-term supply. “If I get my way, I will probably stock up on it” because she’s never had a customer experience a problem with the products. She said she still thought products with ephedra were effective when used properly.

Still, she also said she “absolutely” would adhere to a permanent ban on sales of the products of ephedra.

Doug Slinker, a personal trainer in Kansas City, said he had some clients who used ephedra as part of their weight-loss efforts. But after Bechler’s death, it became much tougher to find on store shelves. Those who still wanted to buy the supplement were left to the Internet and just a handful of stores that continued to carry the products, he said.

“I think that people who were using it were already finding it tough to get,” Slinker said. “The door was almost shut; this closes it.”

Russell Wood of Fit 4 Less in Overland Park, Kan., said more people than normal were coming in or calling him seeking ephedra in large quantities.

“It’s been all people that haven’t been in here before,” Wood said.

He said one woman wanted to buy two cases, each containing 24 bottles and costing $30.

Clinical nutritionist and Chinese herbalist Sayed Jose works at Wholistic Harvest in the St. Louis suburb of University City. He said ephedra-containing supplements were taken off the shelves there around August, well before the FDA’s latest announcement.

He said about three-fourths of his customers who used ephedra-containing products were disappointed when they could no longer buy the items.

“It was selling like ice cream at one point, because people were seeing those dramatic weight-loss results,” he said.

He said several said then that they wanted to buy as much as they could afford.

“It’s natural instinct. If you find a commodity that’s valuable to you as a consumer, you’re going to stock up on it,” he said, adding that he believes the FDA’s decision makes sense. “They are looking out for the best interests of consumers.”

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services endorsed the FDA’s alert Wednesday, saying scientific studies showed little evidence of ephedra’s effectiveness except for short-term weight loss.