The Calorie Free Natural Sweetener - Stevia
Introduction
The demand for high potency sweeteners is expected to increase Worldwide. The increase in the number of diabetic patients and health conscious individuals would push forward the need for alternatives to sugar. Stevia, botanically known as Stevia rebaudiana Breton (Family-Asteraceae) is a sweet herb. It is a native of Paraguay and is widely distributed in USA, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and South-east Asia. The plant is a perennial herb growing up to a height of 60-70 cms. Stevia is likely to become a major source of high potency sweetener for the growing natural food market in the future. The task at hand is to introduce stevia as a modern herbal crop and to increase awareness about stevia both to the consumer and the food manufacturers.
In India several important and necessary steps have to be taken up for its propagation. Development of seedlings suitable to India would be the first requirement. A crop production system, providing information on optimized crop inputs, weed and disease control, harvesting and handling methods would have to be detailed out. Awareness has to be created about the natural herb and the products manufactured out of it by the industries.
Growmore Biotech at Hosur has developed stevia seedlings and has introduced it to the Indian farmers. Now we are waiting for tie-up with the industry for contract farming to initate planting on a larger scale. Although stevia has been in use in Asia and Europe for years, it was only in the last year that stevia really started to capture attention in the Indian market as a healthy alternative sweetener to sugar. Stevia has no calcium cyclamate, no saccharin, no aspartame, and no calories. It is safe for diabetics, as it does, not affect blood sugar levels; it does not have the neurological or renal side effects of some of the artificial sweeteners.
Calorie Free Bio-Sweetener:
This sweet-honey-leaf herb is likely to become the major source of high potency sweetener for the growing natural food market, in the years to come. Stevia finds its use as a natural sweetener, replacing the chemical sweeteners and even table sugar, the sweetness in leaf is due to the presence of an intensive-sweetening agent called stevioside and the leaf by itself is about 20 to 30 times sweeter than sugar. The leaf has stevioside of 10-12% on dry weight basis. Experiments have proved that stevioside is 300 times sweeter than sucrose apart from being a calorie-free sugar. Hence stevia has been named as 'Calorie Free Bio-Sweetener of High Quality'
Stevia is a new promising renewable raw material for the food market. The market potential for this natural sweetener is still untapped. It is estimated that about 30 million Indians are presently suffering from diabetes and it is estimated that by 2025 India's contribution to the diabetic global population would be a whopping 80 million. With such a huge share of the population being diabetic, the new ventures in the food industry are focused entirely on them.
The soft drink manufacturers in India are yet to exploit the sweetness of this herb by its addition in their product. Though many soft drinks are introduced in the market with the prefix 'dia' connoting that it is meant for the diabetics, the usage of stevia in such products would fetch a greater demand than for the one with artificial sweeteners.
The beverage industries like tea and coffee manufacturers have just started introducing new products for the diabetic patients, realizing the major share held by them in the consumer market. As tea and coffee has been the non-replaceable best beverage for every Indian, this sector has enormous potential to come up when the natural sweetener, stevia is used in their products. Realizing this, a tea by name 'Diaet" is already launched in the Chennai market.
All those 'dia' prefixed products in the market at present are sweetened with artificial sweeteners that are, of course, equally sweet, but with undetectable side effects in due course. Stevia a fully plant-based, natural sweetener can be used to replace the artificial sweeteners completely. As stevia leaf powder with no processing is highly safe to use, calorie-free and moreover around 20 - 30 times sweeter than cane sugar, it can replace cane sugar too. The process of manufacturing stevia leaf powder is quite simple, when compared to the tedious steps involved in cane sugar manufacture.
Uses of Stevia Leaves:
Currently consumers have more inclination towards products that are claiming themselves to be 'All natural 'and 'Low CHO'. Hence, the food industry would grab a major share in the market if stevia, the natural sweetener is used as sweetening agent in products like biscuits, jams chocolates, ice creams, baked foods, soft drinks, soda, candies and also common beverages like dip tea, coffee and herbal tea that are targeted in particular at the diabetics and health conscious consumers.
a. Application in Bakery, Confectionery, Soft Drink and Beverage Sector:
All cooked and baked food items like puddings; desserts can be sweetened with only very small quantities of stevia leaf powder as compared to table sugar. Even 50 g of stevia leaf can replace 1000 g of cane sugar. The sweetness of stevioside is non-fermenting and it does not display browning when cooked. This further widens its area of application in baking. This also enhances the quality and safety of usage with a longer shelf-life period. Breads made with stevia as an ingredient (for diabetic customers) have been found to be display improved texture, softness and an increased shelf life.
The confectionery industry is yet to reap the benefit of stevia, which has the potential to replace sugar as sweetening agent, at a relatively comparable cost of Rs.250 per kg of dried leaves of stevia (1 Kg of dried stevia leaf (Rs.250) = minimum'20 kg of sugar (Rs.300)). The leaves can be used in chocolates and candies not only to meet the requirement of diabetic and health conscious consumers, but also to harvest the added advantage, that it does not encourage tooth decay. Stevia possesses an antimicrobial property and can be used in all the sweets that children are fond of.
A mere fragment of the leaf is enough to sweeten the mouth for an hour. So stevia can be used in the manufacture of chewing gums, mints, mouth refreshers and even pan.
The soft drink manufacturers have introduced several health drinks and many food supplementary beverages, especially for the diabetic patients. Majority of this food supplementary products focus on fibre and protein content, etc. The addition of stevia leaves (dried) as such or as powder, in such products would not only aid in increasing the sweetness naturally but also helps in rejuvenating the pancreatic gland. Apart from this, stevia is rich in nutrients, containing substantial amounts of protein, calcium and phosphorus.
The beverage industry can blend stevia leaves with tea and coffee, which will ensure value addition, simultaneously, easing the preparation of the drink. Stevia leaves can be made available in tea bags to make tea more delicious for the diabetic and calorie conscious consumers.
Stevia consists of 10-12 % of stevioside, which can be extracted as a liquid concentrate that can be used directly in soft drinks, beverages, chocolates etc.
b. Household Usage:
The leaves of stevia impart a pleasant, flavour apart from increasing the sweetness of the product. The stevia leaves or its powder can be used without extensive processing in most of the typical Indian dishes like kesari, chakkara pongal, payasam, sauces, jams, juices, pickles, tea, coffee and even herbal tea. Most of these products are available as ready-made mixtures in neatly sealed packs. Stevia, with them would implant additional acceptable flavour in the mixtures, besides making the preparation easier.
Fresh juice preparation is another area that is still unexplored. The fresh fruit juice can be made cent percent fresh and natural by the addition of this natural sweetener stevia, instead of cane sugar. The sweet deprived, diabetic patients can relish their favorite sweets with stevia without any compromise in its' sweetness.
Ground stevia can be sprinkled lightly over cooking vegetable and meat, cereals and salads. Besides adding its own 1 sweet taste, it significantly enhances the flavour and nutritional value of the food.
c. Medicinal Uses:
Stevia possess anti-fungal and anti-bacterial property also in addition to its other versatile uses. It can be safely used in herbal medicines, tonics for diabetic patients and also in the daily usage products like mouthwashes, and tooth pastes.
Mild stevia leaf tea offers excellent relief for an upset stomach.
A wet stevia leaf bag provides a cooling effect on eyes (similar to using cucumber). The leaves effectively tighten the skin and are good for wrinkles. Stevia has proved to give exceptional benefits when used regularly in skin care. It also has a healing effect on blemishes, wounds, cuts and scratches.
Stevia is helpful in weight and blood pressure management. It has also been reported that stevia lowers incidence of colds and flu.
Conclusion:
Stevia is a potential alternative source for replacing artificial sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, asulfam, etc. Unlike many low calorie sweeteners, stevioside is stable at. high temperature and over a pH range of 3-9. Steps need to be properly aligned to exploit the natural sweetness of stevia. Food industrialists have to start launching new products utilizing stevia. This'would obviously provokes the need to grow more and finally result in more area under stevia cultivation. Programmes need to be organized to promote this natural sweetener and create product awareness.
Introduction
The demand for high potency sweeteners is expected to increase Worldwide. The increase in the number of diabetic patients and health conscious individuals would push forward the need for alternatives to sugar. Stevia, botanically known as Stevia rebaudiana Breton (Family-Asteraceae) is a sweet herb. It is a native of Paraguay and is widely distributed in USA, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and South-east Asia. The plant is a perennial herb growing up to a height of 60-70 cms. Stevia is likely to become a major source of high potency sweetener for the growing natural food market in the future. The task at hand is to introduce stevia as a modern herbal crop and to increase awareness about stevia both to the consumer and the food manufacturers.
In India several important and necessary steps have to be taken up for its propagation. Development of seedlings suitable to India would be the first requirement. A crop production system, providing information on optimized crop inputs, weed and disease control, harvesting and handling methods would have to be detailed out. Awareness has to be created about the natural herb and the products manufactured out of it by the industries.
Growmore Biotech at Hosur has developed stevia seedlings and has introduced it to the Indian farmers. Now we are waiting for tie-up with the industry for contract farming to initate planting on a larger scale. Although stevia has been in use in Asia and Europe for years, it was only in the last year that stevia really started to capture attention in the Indian market as a healthy alternative sweetener to sugar. Stevia has no calcium cyclamate, no saccharin, no aspartame, and no calories. It is safe for diabetics, as it does, not affect blood sugar levels; it does not have the neurological or renal side effects of some of the artificial sweeteners.
Calorie Free Bio-Sweetener:
This sweet-honey-leaf herb is likely to become the major source of high potency sweetener for the growing natural food market, in the years to come. Stevia finds its use as a natural sweetener, replacing the chemical sweeteners and even table sugar, the sweetness in leaf is due to the presence of an intensive-sweetening agent called stevioside and the leaf by itself is about 20 to 30 times sweeter than sugar. The leaf has stevioside of 10-12% on dry weight basis. Experiments have proved that stevioside is 300 times sweeter than sucrose apart from being a calorie-free sugar. Hence stevia has been named as 'Calorie Free Bio-Sweetener of High Quality'
Stevia is a new promising renewable raw material for the food market. The market potential for this natural sweetener is still untapped. It is estimated that about 30 million Indians are presently suffering from diabetes and it is estimated that by 2025 India's contribution to the diabetic global population would be a whopping 80 million. With such a huge share of the population being diabetic, the new ventures in the food industry are focused entirely on them.
The soft drink manufacturers in India are yet to exploit the sweetness of this herb by its addition in their product. Though many soft drinks are introduced in the market with the prefix 'dia' connoting that it is meant for the diabetics, the usage of stevia in such products would fetch a greater demand than for the one with artificial sweeteners.
The beverage industries like tea and coffee manufacturers have just started introducing new products for the diabetic patients, realizing the major share held by them in the consumer market. As tea and coffee has been the non-replaceable best beverage for every Indian, this sector has enormous potential to come up when the natural sweetener, stevia is used in their products. Realizing this, a tea by name 'Diaet" is already launched in the Chennai market.
All those 'dia' prefixed products in the market at present are sweetened with artificial sweeteners that are, of course, equally sweet, but with undetectable side effects in due course. Stevia a fully plant-based, natural sweetener can be used to replace the artificial sweeteners completely. As stevia leaf powder with no processing is highly safe to use, calorie-free and moreover around 20 - 30 times sweeter than cane sugar, it can replace cane sugar too. The process of manufacturing stevia leaf powder is quite simple, when compared to the tedious steps involved in cane sugar manufacture.
Uses of Stevia Leaves:
Currently consumers have more inclination towards products that are claiming themselves to be 'All natural 'and 'Low CHO'. Hence, the food industry would grab a major share in the market if stevia, the natural sweetener is used as sweetening agent in products like biscuits, jams chocolates, ice creams, baked foods, soft drinks, soda, candies and also common beverages like dip tea, coffee and herbal tea that are targeted in particular at the diabetics and health conscious consumers.
a. Application in Bakery, Confectionery, Soft Drink and Beverage Sector:
All cooked and baked food items like puddings; desserts can be sweetened with only very small quantities of stevia leaf powder as compared to table sugar. Even 50 g of stevia leaf can replace 1000 g of cane sugar. The sweetness of stevioside is non-fermenting and it does not display browning when cooked. This further widens its area of application in baking. This also enhances the quality and safety of usage with a longer shelf-life period. Breads made with stevia as an ingredient (for diabetic customers) have been found to be display improved texture, softness and an increased shelf life.
The confectionery industry is yet to reap the benefit of stevia, which has the potential to replace sugar as sweetening agent, at a relatively comparable cost of Rs.250 per kg of dried leaves of stevia (1 Kg of dried stevia leaf (Rs.250) = minimum'20 kg of sugar (Rs.300)). The leaves can be used in chocolates and candies not only to meet the requirement of diabetic and health conscious consumers, but also to harvest the added advantage, that it does not encourage tooth decay. Stevia possesses an antimicrobial property and can be used in all the sweets that children are fond of.
A mere fragment of the leaf is enough to sweeten the mouth for an hour. So stevia can be used in the manufacture of chewing gums, mints, mouth refreshers and even pan.
The soft drink manufacturers have introduced several health drinks and many food supplementary beverages, especially for the diabetic patients. Majority of this food supplementary products focus on fibre and protein content, etc. The addition of stevia leaves (dried) as such or as powder, in such products would not only aid in increasing the sweetness naturally but also helps in rejuvenating the pancreatic gland. Apart from this, stevia is rich in nutrients, containing substantial amounts of protein, calcium and phosphorus.
The beverage industry can blend stevia leaves with tea and coffee, which will ensure value addition, simultaneously, easing the preparation of the drink. Stevia leaves can be made available in tea bags to make tea more delicious for the diabetic and calorie conscious consumers.
Stevia consists of 10-12 % of stevioside, which can be extracted as a liquid concentrate that can be used directly in soft drinks, beverages, chocolates etc.
b. Household Usage:
The leaves of stevia impart a pleasant, flavour apart from increasing the sweetness of the product. The stevia leaves or its powder can be used without extensive processing in most of the typical Indian dishes like kesari, chakkara pongal, payasam, sauces, jams, juices, pickles, tea, coffee and even herbal tea. Most of these products are available as ready-made mixtures in neatly sealed packs. Stevia, with them would implant additional acceptable flavour in the mixtures, besides making the preparation easier.
Fresh juice preparation is another area that is still unexplored. The fresh fruit juice can be made cent percent fresh and natural by the addition of this natural sweetener stevia, instead of cane sugar. The sweet deprived, diabetic patients can relish their favorite sweets with stevia without any compromise in its' sweetness.
Ground stevia can be sprinkled lightly over cooking vegetable and meat, cereals and salads. Besides adding its own 1 sweet taste, it significantly enhances the flavour and nutritional value of the food.
c. Medicinal Uses:
Stevia possess anti-fungal and anti-bacterial property also in addition to its other versatile uses. It can be safely used in herbal medicines, tonics for diabetic patients and also in the daily usage products like mouthwashes, and tooth pastes.
Mild stevia leaf tea offers excellent relief for an upset stomach.
A wet stevia leaf bag provides a cooling effect on eyes (similar to using cucumber). The leaves effectively tighten the skin and are good for wrinkles. Stevia has proved to give exceptional benefits when used regularly in skin care. It also has a healing effect on blemishes, wounds, cuts and scratches.
Stevia is helpful in weight and blood pressure management. It has also been reported that stevia lowers incidence of colds and flu.
Conclusion:
Stevia is a potential alternative source for replacing artificial sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, asulfam, etc. Unlike many low calorie sweeteners, stevioside is stable at. high temperature and over a pH range of 3-9. Steps need to be properly aligned to exploit the natural sweetness of stevia. Food industrialists have to start launching new products utilizing stevia. This'would obviously provokes the need to grow more and finally result in more area under stevia cultivation. Programmes need to be organized to promote this natural sweetener and create product awareness.