STEVIA

Stevia is a perennial shrub native to the northern regions of South America but is now grown and harvested commercially in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Central America, the United States, Israel, Thailand, and China. The leaves of the stevia plant contain several chemical substances called glycosides, which have a sweet taste, but do not provide any calories. The major glycoside is known as stevioside and is one of the main sweeteners used in both Japan and Korea. Stevia is now used by over 40% of the Japanese market. Even international food companies like Coca Cola and Beatrice foods, convinced of its safety, use stevia extracts to sweeten foods for sale in markets outside the United States in such countries including Japan, Brazil, and other countries where it is also approved. Stevia was first discovered by Europeans when Spanish Conquistadors sent word to Spain that natives of South America used stevia to sweeten herbal teas.

The most important use of stevia is its ability replace saccharine. Stevia has many advantages over saccharine, primarily the following:

1. It is not toxic; rather it is healthful, as shown by long experience and according to a number of studies.

2. It is a very powerful sweetener.

3. It can be employed directly in its natural state, without a lot of processing required.

4. It is much less expensive than saccharine.