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Stevia - Healthy Natural Sweetener For Diabetes And Weight Management

Nick Wang - 05/27/2009

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Used as a sweetener and medicine for a thousand years by native Guarani Indians, Stevia Rebaudiana is perhaps the only known plant to worry the sweetener industry today. Stevia leaves contain steviosides, which are chemicals that cause Stevia to taste sweet. Stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than white sugar.

In China, Korea and Japan Stevia extract Stevioside is used as a table top sweetener because it has no calories, no carbohydrates and no fat and is many times sweeter than sugar. In the United States, Stevia is sold only as a dietary supplement.

In addition to being a sweetener, Stevia is considered to be hypoglycemic, hypotensive, diuretic, cardiotonic, and tonic. The leaf is used for diabetes, obesity, cavities, hypertension, fatigue, depression, sweet cravings, and infections.

Stevia is an exceptional aid in weight loss and weight management because it contains no calories and reduces one's craving for sweets and fatty foods.

Around 1970 Japan began to prohibit the use of artificial laboratory made chemical sweeteners, due to health concerns. Convinced of the safety of Stevia and Stevioside it approved Stevia and Stevioside as sweeteners and flavor enhancers for food use in Japan. This move intensified the already ongoing Japanese studies of Stevioside for commercial production and use. By 1977 companies started extracting Stevioside on a commercial basis in Japan.

Lots of countries in the world already use Stevia. The only difference is in the way they declaring it; some call it dental health product, others food supplement or just regular sweetener.

The release of Stevia to be not only imported into this all the countries of the world, but also commercially grown, opens the door for the future common availability of this herb in every supermarket and as an additive to processed food in the world. While the battle to market Stevia as an alternative sweetener to sugar is far from over, the time will come sooner than later.