European quality for stevioside.

[Sourabh Agarwal]

Stevioside is an excellent choice for diabetics

Medical Condition News
Published: Thursday, 23-Dec-2004



Stevioside, the main sweet component in the leaves of the Stevia plant, tastes about 300 times sweeter than table sugar, which means only a small amount is needed for sweetening purposes.
As the incidence of type-2 diabetes and obesity is sharply increasing, stevioside is an excellent substitute for sugar. The annual cost of treating these diseases is estimated at 5 billion euros in Belgium, 30 billion euros in Germany and 300 billion US dollars in the USA.

However, the European Commission firstly in 2000 refused to approve Stevia and stevioside because of insufficient evidence for their safety. Now an international team of scientists, has published a book in which they prove that stevioside is completely safe for use as a sweetener.

Stevioside has numerous benefits as a sweetener: it is 100% natural, stable, contains no calories and promotes good dental health by reducing sugar intake. It can be used by diabetics, obese persons and patients suffering from phenylketonuria, an illness which requires a strict diet without artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. High concentrations of stevioside (250 mg three times daily) lower the blood pressure of hypertensive patients without affecting the blood biochemistry. No significant adverse effects have been observed, and stevioside intake does not affect male potency. It also has potential as a treatment for type-2 diabetes.

Stevia and stevioside are permitted as food additives in Brazil, Korea and Japan. In the United States, they are permitted as a dietary supplement. In response to the European Commission's request for more research an Centre is setup in 2003 in order to co-ordinate research on Stevia and stevioside. One of the goals is to develop a European quality label for stevioside.

The first international symposium on the safety of stevioside in April, 2004. give an overview of the recent stevioside research and discussed amongst others the effects of stevioside on type-2 diabetes and on healty volunteers. The proceedings of the symposium are available with Mr. Sourabh Agarwal ( itpc@touchtelindia.net ) and the general conclusion is that the use of stevioside as a sweetener is completely safe.

[krishanb]

Dear Sir,

Good Morning,

This is with reference to your advertisement on agriculutreinformation.com that you have europian details about stevia. At first we want to introduce ourselves to you that we are the well established NGO company. we are working in the field of stevia cultivation in India (Punjab). So, we want to take more information about stevia. So, pls send us full information about stevia on our email ID. Hopping for prompt action at your end pls.

Thanking you

Krishan Chand Bansal

[msureshkumar_1979]

dear sir

with reference to your advertisement can you send the full details of the proceedings for our reference. expecting favour to me