Everything about Stevia totally explained
Stevia is a
genus of about 150
species of
herbs and
shrubs in the sunflower family (
Asteraceae), native to
subtropical and
tropical South America and
Central America. The species
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as
sweetleaf,
sweet leaf,
sugarleaf, or simply
stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a
sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of
sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or
licorice-like
aftertaste at high concentrations.
With its extracts having up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, stevia has garnered attention with the rise in demand for
low-carbohydrate, low-sugar food alternatives. Stevia also has shown promise in medical research for treating such conditions as
obesity and
high blood pressure. Stevia has a negligible effect on
blood glucose, even enhancing
glucose tolerance; therefore, it's attractive as a natural sweetener to
diabetics and others on
carbohydrate-controlled diets. However, health and political controversies have limited stevia's availability in many countries; for example, the
United States banned it in the early 1990s unless labeled as a supplement. Stevia is widely used as a sweetener in
Japan, and it's now available in the US and
Canada as a
dietary supplement, although not as a
food additive.
Rebiana is the
trade name for a stevia-derived sweetener being developed jointly by
The Coca-Cola Company and
Cargill with the intent of marketing in several countries and gaining regulatory approval in the US and EU.
Truvia is Cargill's consumer brand of Rebiana-based sweetener.
History and use
For centuries, the
Guaraní tribes of
Paraguay and
Brazil used
Stevia species, primarily
S. rebaudiana which they called
ka'a he'ê ("sweet herb"), as a sweetener in
yerba mate and medicinal teas for treating
heartburn and other ailments. The leaves of the stevia plant have 30–45 times the sweetness of
sucrose (ordinary table sugar).
The Swiss botanist
Moisés Santiago Bertoni first described the plant and the sweet taste in detail. But only limited research was conducted on the topic, until in 1931, two
French chemists isolated the
glycosides that give stevia its sweet taste. These compounds were named
stevioside and
rebaudioside, and are 250–300 times sweeter than sucrose, heat stable,
pH stable, and non-
fermentable.
The exact structure of the aglycone and the glycoside were published in 1955.
In the early 1970s,
Japan began cultivating stevia as an alternative to artificial sweeteners such as
cyclamate and
saccharin, which are suspected
carcinogens. The plant's leaves, the aqueous extract of the leaves, and purified steviosides are used as sweeteners. Since the Japanese firm Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. produced the first commercial stevia sweetener in Japan in 1971, the Japanese have been using stevia in food products,
soft drinks (including
Coca Cola), and for table use. Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other country, with stevia accounting for 40% of the sweetener market.
Today, stevia is cultivated and used in food elsewhere in east Asia, including in
China (since 1984),
Korea,
Taiwan,
Thailand, and
Malaysia. It can also be found in
Saint Kitts and Nevis, in parts of
South America (
Brazil,
Colombia,
Peru,
Paraguay, and
Uruguay) and in
Israel. China is the world's largest exporter of stevioside. and
Canada. In Japan and South American countries, stevia may also be used as a food additive. Stevia is currently banned for use in food in the
European Union It is also banned in
Singapore and
Hong Kong.
Rebiana is the trade name for a
patent-pending, calorie-free, food and beverage sweetener derived from stevia and developed jointly by
The Coca-Cola Company and
Cargill. In May 2007, Coca-Cola announced plans to obtain approval for its use as a food additive within the United States by 2009. Coca-Cola has also announced plans to market rebiana-sweetened products in 12 countries that allow stevia's use as a food additive. The two companies are conducting their own studies in an effort to gain regulatory approval in the United States and the European Union. In May 2008, Cargill announced the availability of
Truvia, a consumer brand of Rebiana..
The U.S. ingredient firm
Blue California claims to have developed an economical industrial production process for isolating Rebaudioside A, a sweet compound derived from stevia, using a "more economical and proprietary process". The company expects to go into industrial scale production in 2008. The isolation process for Rebaudioside A results in a product that delivers the desired sweetness without a bitter aftertaste.
Controversies
Health controversy
A 1985 study reported that steviol, a breakdown product from stevioside and rebaudioside (two of the sweet
steviol glycosides in the stevia leaf), is a
mutagen in the presence of a
liver extract of pre-treated rats
— but this finding has been criticized on procedural grounds that the data were mishandled in such a way that even
distilled water would appear
mutagenic.
More recent animal tests have shown mixed results in terms of toxicology and adverse effects of stevia extract, with some tests finding steviol to be a weak mutagen
while newer studies find no safety issues.
Other studies have shown stevia improves insulin sensitivity in rats and may even promote additional insulin production, helping to reverse
diabetes and
metabolic syndrome. Preliminary human studies show stevia can help reduce
hypertension although another study has shown it has no effect on hypertension. Despite these more recent studies establishing the safety of stevia, government agencies have expressed concerns over
toxicity, citing a lack of sufficient conclusive research.
Whole foods proponents draw a distinction between consuming (and safety testing) only parts, such as stevia extracts and isolated compounds like stevioside, versus the whole herb. In his book
Healing With Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford cautions, "Obtain only the green or brown [whole] stevia extracts or powders; avoid the clear extracts and white powders, which, highly refined and lacking essential
phyto-nutrients, cause imbalance".
In 2006, the
World Health Organization (WHO) performed a thorough evaluation of recent experimental studies of stevioside and steviols conducted on animals and humans, and concluded that "
stevioside and rebaudioside A are not genotoxic in vitro or in vivo and that the genotoxicity of steviol and some of its oxidative derivatives in vitro isn't expressed in vivo."
The report also found no evidence of
carcinogenic activity. Furthermore, the report noted that "
stevioside has shown some evidence of pharmacological effects in patients with hypertension or with type-2 diabetes"
Similarly, stevia leaves have been used for centuries in South America spanning multiple generations in
ethnomedical tradition as a treatment of
type II diabetes.
Political controversy
In 1991, at the request of an anonymous complaint, the
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled stevia as an "unsafe food additive" and restricted its import. The FDA's stated reason was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety." This ruling was controversial, as stevia proponents pointed out that this designation violated the FDA's own guidelines under which any natural substance used prior to 1958 with no reported adverse effects should be
generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
Stevia occurs naturally, requiring no
patent to produce it. As a consequence, since the import ban in 1991, marketers and consumers of stevia have shared a belief that the FDA acted in response to industry pressure. Citing privacy issues, the FDA hasn't revealed the source of the original complaint in its responses to requests filed under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Although unresolved questions remain concerning whether metabolic processes can produce a mutagen from stevia in animals, let alone in humans, the early studies nevertheless prompted the
European Commission to ban stevia's use in food in the
European Union pending further research.) are known simply as "stevia" in
English-speaking countries as well as in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Norway and Sweden — although some of these countries also use other terms as shown below. Similar pronunciations occur in Japan (
sutebia or ステビア in
katakana), and in Thailand (
satiwia). In some countries (India, for example) the name translates literally as "sweet leaf." Below are some names for the stevia plant in various regions of the world:
- Afrikaans-speaking countries: heuningblaar (honey leaf)
- China: 甜菊 (tian jü – sweet chrysanthemum), 甜菊叶 (tian jü ye – stevia leaf)
- Dutch: honingkruid
- English-speaking countries: candy leaf, sugar leaf, sweetleaf (USA), sweet honey leaf (Australia), sweet herb of Paraguay
- German speaking countries (also Switzerland): Süßkraut, Süßblatt, Honigkraut
- Hungary: jázmin pakóca
- India: madhu parani (Marathi), madhu patra (Sanskrit), seeni tulsi (Tamil), madhu patri (Telugu)
- Israel: סטיביה (sṭīviyyāh in Hebrew)
- Japan: アマハステビア (amaha sutebia)
- Portuguese-speaking countries: capim doce (sweet grass), erva doce (sweet herb, also a Portuguese term for fennel), estévia (Brazil), folhas da stévia
- Spanish-speaking countries: hierba / yerba dulce, estevia, ka´a he´ê (Guaraníes, Natives of Paraguay)
- Sweden: sötflockel
- Thailand: satiwia, หญ้าหวาน (ya wan, or sweet grass in Bangkok)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Stevia'.
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