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Stevia RebaudianaLeaves Ñ A Low Calorie Source of Sweeteners The use of extracts of Stevia rebaudiana leaves as low calorie sweeteners are being explored in many countries.
Shi Qiu Zhang, Oleh Kutowy, and Ashwani Kumar, MCIC
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The sweetening properties of Stevia rebaudiana have been known for centuries, especially in its native land of Paraguay. The dried leaves of Stevia rebaudiana contain about 42 per cent water-soluble constituents. The sweet compounds represent about 14 per cent constituents of dried leaves and are diterpene glycosides based on the kaurene skeleton. These are mainly comprised of stevioside; steviobioside; rebaudioside A, B, D, E; dulcoside A; and dulcoside B [1]. These stevia sweeteners
are similar in structure in that a steviol aglycone is connected at C-4 and C-13 to mono-, di- or trisaccharides consisting of glucose and/or rhamnose residues, as shown in Figure 1. The most abundant glycoside is stevioside followed by rebaudioside. The rest of the sweet components are present in much smaller amounts. Sweetening potencies of various diterpenes found in Stevia rebaudiana are listed in Table 1. The non-sweet constituents mainly are labdane diterpenes, triterpenes, sterols and
flavonoids.

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