Yes! Stevia is definitely the Nature's Gift to Mankind
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| Stevia Powder |
STEVIA is a plant that is part of the Sunflower family, it is a bushy shrub native to South America. There are 150 species of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni or just simply STEVIA. Simply considering this plant ordinary,won't justify its existence as it has godly properties:
Stevia is 200 to 300 times sweeter than table sugar and has nearly zero calories. Compared to other mainstream sweeteners it typically requires about 20% of land and a minimal amount of water to provide the same amount of sweetness.
Coming
to its chemical properties, there are a total number of 8 Glycosides in Stevia. These are the sweet components isolated and
purified from the leaves of stevia. These glycosides are mentioned as follows:
- stevioside
- rebaudiosides A, C, D, E, and F
- steviolbioside
- dulcoside A
Stevioside and rebaudioside A
(Reb-A) are the major components found in abundance in the Stevia plant. Their extraction is done by the series of processing steps starting from- harvesting the leaves, then drying, water
extraction, and ending with purification.
The crude stevia ( the unprocessed one) often requires purification as it carries a
bitter taste and foul smell and to remove it Blanching is done.
STEVIA: THEN AND NOW
According to an old survey by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
and Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, Canada, held in the Year
1998-
The worldwide demand
for high-potency sweeteners was expected to increase, especially with the new
practice of blending different sweeteners.
And their prediction made at that time is showing up with the
high demand of Natural Sugar Substitutes like Stevia rebaudiana or simply STEVIA.
Stevia
rebaudiana Bert. comes from the family of the Genus Stevia and is one
one of the plant species out of the total 154 member associated to the Genus Sativa.
Stevia was originated in the Valley of the Rio Monday in the
highlands of Paraguay as the place was best suited for its growth having the
latitude between 25°&26° S in Sandy soils near the streams.
It was found by
the Swiss Botanist Moises Bertoni that The Guarani Indians Tribe native to the
Paraguayan highlands were using this godly plant Stevia as a medicine and they
use to call Stevia - caá-êhê,
meaning “sweet herb".
Besides using Stevia as a medicine, they also used
its leaves as a general sweetening agent for a very long time. Moises Bertoni
then became the first person to describe the taste of Stevia in detail in the
year 1899.
After several trials, Japan became the first successful
country to grow Stevia on a commercial basis in the year 1971, and following
the footsteps of Japan, countries like Brazil, Korea, Mexico, United States,
Indonesia, Tanzania, Canada were able to grow Stevia as a commercial crop by
the year 1990.
THE GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE
In the Year 2008, FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA)
approved the High-Purity Stevia
Leaf Extracts to be used in Food and Beverages in The US by giving it the GRAS (Generally Recognized as
Safe) status. And by the Year 2011, the same thing happened in Europe also, The
European Food Safety Authority approved the use of steviol glycosides in food
and beverages.
STEVIA: IN 2020
It is predicted that by the Year 2030 nearly 50% of the
world population would be switching to natural sugar substitutes like STEVIA,
and due to this more and more emphasis is being given on the Research and
Development of new and advanced technologies related to STEVIA and its
processing.
Food and Beverage companies are working hard in a very
competitive environment to create great-tasting food and beverage products
using STEVIA resulting in a low-calorie product. There are regulations over the
use of STEVIA as per the present scenario and the consumer can see on the
ingredient label the different ways in which STEVIA is generally listed: stevia, stevia extract, rebaudioside A, Reb-A,
steviol glycosides and other variations depending on the country and the
manufacturer.
In the year 2020 due to
the CoViD-19 pandemic, there is an increase in demand for healthy foods and
people are getting more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and to
meet the demand companies are producing a wide range of food and beverage
products and there are approximately 14,000 plus foods and beverages available
around the globe today, they use STEVIA as their key ingredient and market them
heavily to surpass each other's competition.
The product includes- juices, waters, soft drinks, flavored
milks, yogurts, baked goods, cereals, salad dressings, sauces, confections,
tabletop sweeteners, and more.
Stevia sweeteners are marketed by several trade names:
- Purevia
- Stevia
- Truvia (created by Coca-Cola company in association with Cargill foods)
- Steviacane
- Stevia Extract In The Raw
- SweetLeaf
- Sugar-Free Green.
WHAT'S THE TAKEAWAY?
Recent studies indicate that if you are looking for a healthy
natural sugar substitute, then you should try Stevia, as it is known for its
anti-diabetic properties and the ability to control the blood sugar levels. Stevia comes in various forms, ranging from
the liquid drops to the stevia tablets and the final type is the fine
powder.
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| Different forms of Stevia available in the Market |
The powerful combination of a zero-calorie sweetener with a plant-based origin, makes STEVIA distinct in the food and beverage world.
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