The University of Nebraska reports that there were "few botanical discoveries quite as dramatic" as the realization that some stevia plants are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. Although the stevia plant is found throughout the world, including Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, only the S. rebaudiana species has the intense sweetness that has taken the market by storm. Even Pepsi and Coca Cola joined the bandwagon and market stevia-sweetened beverages.
HIstory
The sweet taste of stevia is produced by a family of compounds called glycosides.These compounds were first isolated from the plant by Pomeret and Lavieille in 1931. Originally banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because not enough information was available, this ban was lifted when the FDA declared that refined extracts from the plant are generally recognized as safe. Whole leaf stevia continues to be unavailable on the American market because the FDA has not approved either whole-leaf stevia or crude stevia extracts.
Macro and Micronutrients
One 3.5-g packet of stevia has no fat, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium or iron. It does provide 3 g of carbohydrates, which is such a trivial amount that it is inconsequential. One could consider stevia to be empty calories but for the fact that it has no calories either.
Benefits
The FDA does not recognize any health benefits of stevia. However, as part of a sensible program of diet and exercise, stevia may help people lose weight by reducing their total calorie load. However, stevia is not a magic bullet; dieters cannot rely upon stevia alone to effect a weight loss.
Marketing
As of 2010, stevia is cropping up everywhere. The stevia extract rebaudioside is sold in the U.S. under the names Truvia, Only Sweet, Reb-A, PureVia, Rebiana, Reb-A and SweetLeaf. Pepsi and Coca-Cola also market stevia-sweetened drinks, including SoBe Lifewater and Sprite Green.
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