Dulcivia

Sweetener of the future

 

The active constituents of stevia are considered by the world's leading food scientists as the "sweeteners of the future." Therefore, every new development in the area of stevia research is anxiously awaited and thoroughly analyzed when it appears. Countries in which the currently used artificial sweetners are on the brink of being banned are desperately trying to find new, safe, non-caloric sweeteners. And in other countries, firms that hold exclusive rights to currently used sweeteners are extremely fearful of the advent of new, safer sweeteners, over which they will have no control. For these firms, the emergence of a totally natural, non-patentable sweetener is the ultimate horror. Stevia, whether these firms like it or not, will one day have a dramatic impact on all countries of the world. The necessary forces simply need to be properly aligned, the raging fury of mega-monstrous companies firmly bridled by caring governments, and the supply of stevia raised to meet the enormous demand.

 

Healthy Natural Sweetener

 

The Stevioside and Stevia glycosides have undergone extensive genetic study. The results of these studies have no evidence of genotoxic activity. Neither stevioside nor steviol the have shown to react directly with DNA and genotoxic damage shown in trials relevant to human risk . Steviol mutagenic activity and some of its derivatives exhibited strains TM677 , not reproduced in the same bacterium having a normal process of DNA repair . The Stevioside and steviol not produce the clastogenic effects when used in extremely high doses in vivo. Application of the method - of - Evidence Weight for obtaining database that determines the genetic toxicology , concludes that human consumption of these substances does not constitute a risk of genetic damage.

 

Used in hundreds of foods

 

Steviosides and rebaudiosides are the principal constituents of diterpene glucosides with differing sugar molecules attached, as found in the leaves of the stevia plant. Extracted, they are currently being used as sweetening agents in several countries, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Uraguay, Brazil, and Paraguay. In Japan, commercialization of stevia was very rapid, beginning with the ban of artificial sweeteners during the 1960's. In 1970 the Japanese National Institute of Health began importing stevia for investigation, and by 1980 it was being used in hundreds of food products throughout the country.

 

Few Hundred times sweeter than sugar

 

This is remarkable progress, considering that as recently as 1921 scientists were just getting around to naming the main constituent (stevioside), and the molecule wasn't even accurately described until 1931, when scientists reported it to be a white, crystalline, hygroscopic powder, approximately a hundred times sweeter than cane sugar. It wasn't until 1955 that the earlier work was replicated and extended. By 1963, the complete chemical structures of the active molecules of stevia were finally worked out. To jump from there to the status of a major food sweetener by the mid-1970's was a truly astounding feat, one that would have simply been impossible in the United States or Europe. Today, the Japanese, who cultivate stevia extensively in their own country, are anxious that other countries adopt the use of the plant so that they might export it. The ironic thing is that the Japanese are not as encumbered with weight problems as the rest of us; they are not, therefore, adverse to using copious amounts of plain old sugar. Yet they have access, in the form of stevia, to one of the best sugar substitutes.