Stevia - A Sweet Alternative

Since the old times, people crave for sweetness in drinks and food. Cakes, doughnuts and Coke are all sweet. It used to be the sweetness of honey in ancient Europe before sugar is discovered by Napoleon in ancient India.

Sugar that comes from sugar cane or sugar beet is the source of sweetness that we crave for and will continue to be the source for the generations to come. However, some of us are no longer able to take sugar for various health reasons and some of us may choose to opt-out of sugar simply because of their own health consciousness. However, the craves for sweetness continue.

The sweet taste of sugar can also be substituted by sugar alternatives products such as Equal, NutraSweet, Canderel and Sweet'N Low. These are the sweet alternatives to sugar that we have ever known of until recently the word Stevia came into picture.

Stevia is a wild shrub plant found in South America as well as Central America such as Mexico and Colombia. Types of the stevia plant are also found in southern states of Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. For centuries, stevia plant is used by tribes in Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil as sweetener in herbal medicine. The plant was first research by a Spanish botanist Pedro Jaime Esteve. The word stevia came after his name.

It was found that the sweetness of stevia is derived from its two compounds, stevioside and rebaudioside.

For years Stevia is widely used in Japan as Natural Sweetener and now it is available in most countries as sweetener and food additive. It was, however, banned by EU except for France. It's also banned in Singapore and Hong Kong. The banned is basically due to worries of its mutagen effect or alteration of DNA as per a study in 1985. More recent studies however shows that stevia is safe. The opposition of stevia is actually drives by the alternative sugar industry as stevia is cheaper and tastes better than other sugar alternatives. At the same quantity, the sweetness of stevia can be 300 times sweeter than normal sugar.

In the US, Stevia leaf and extracts are available as dietary supplements. The rebaudioside compund is available as food sweetener since 2008 after much coercions from Coca Cola and Pepsico who wanted to used the sweetener in the products.

With a whole list of "sins" of taking sugar especially with its relations to obesity and diabetes, it is necessary for us to look for sugar alternatives in our quest to reduce the calories. Stevia is the best alternative as it is 300 times sweeter than sugar without the calorie in it. A drop of it should be able to sweeten your cup of tea. Isn't that great. You are doing your body a favor by replacing sugar with stevia, at least in your drinks.

Another benefit of stevia is its ability to induce the generation of insulin in your body that will help your body to fight or reverse the effect of diabetes. Stevia is also proven to help reduce the blood pressure for those with hypertension. By replacing sugar with the sweet leaf also, you will have less calories to burn thus helping you to reduce weight with proper exercise.

The quest for less calories doesn't mean you have to taste bitter. There will always be sweetness to you no matter what. Leading a healthy life will also means leading a sweet life.