STEVIA

 Introduction :

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 is 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 is 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.
 

Where Stevia is cultivated?

Stevia wildly grows at highlands especially at the north of Paraguay and south of Brazil.It is then cultivated to be used as sweetener  until sugar cane is introduced by Spanish and Portugis.

However,the usage of stevia in most countries is limited.For example,in 1990s,United States has prohibited the usage of stevia unless it has been labelled as supplement.Nowadays,America and Canada have consumed stevia as dietary supplement,but not as additional food.Besides that,stevia sweetener is also widely used in Japan.It is comercially produced in Japan since 1971 by Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd company and used in food product and in soft drink.Currently,stevia is cultivated and widely used in all over the world in food industry in east asia including China(since 1984), Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia, United States, Europe, India, Ukraine and North America.

Uses :

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.

Stevia species are found in the wild in semi-arid habitats ranging from grassland to mountain terrain. Stevia does produce seeds, but only a small percentage of them germinate. Planting cloned stevia is a more effective method of reproduction.
 

Characteristics of stevia :

1.Natural sweetener

2.Lower the blood sugar level

3.Improve urination

4.Lower the blood pressure

5.Kill bacteria

6.kill fungi

7.kill viruses

8.Decrease imflammation

9.Help to decrease body weight

The usual used and suggested usage of stevia is 1/4 of the eat spoon.The crushed leaf is used to replace one eat spoon of common sugar.