HAVE YOU HEARD OF STEVIA PLANT, A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMON SUGAR?

Appreciate nature and revere the creator of plants and animals for his unfathomable love for humanity. Plants and animals were created to serve as food and also heal humans. Several plants have been discovered to be of great benefits to man, to nourish humans and also protect life-threatening illness or diseases; lots have discovered while surplus are yet to be discovered. Part of these blessings is the stevia plant.

Stevia plant botanically called Stevia rebaudiana is a non-carbohydrate natural sweetener; it is a small leafy herb of South American origin. Stevia was discovered about 1500 years ago by the people Guarani of Paraguay. It is commonly called honey leaf plant, sweet leaf, sugar leaf in different countries across the globe. Stevia plant has been discovered to be of huge health benefits aside from it sweetening property. Stevia is 300 times sweeter than cane sugar; it has displaced cane sugar in several parts of the world, especially in East Asian regions and South American countries with China being the highest exporter of stevia products.

Stevia plant is a non-toxic natural sweetener that can be grown in both temperate and tropical region but well adaptive to the temperate region. It is a small plant that grows up to 2-4 feet. Stevia plant is a good alternative to cane sugar as it is calorie free; it can be dried or crushed to replace cane sugar in food stuffs like tea, sweets, sauce, confectionary and soft drinks. It can be added to jam, yogurt, ice creams, deserts, chewing gum, sweeten bitter medicines.

The sweetening effect in stevia plant is produced by steviol glycosides, mainly stevioside and rabaudioside; these compounds are 300 times sweeter than sugar. They are heat stable, pH stable and not fermentable, thus, making it have a longer shelf life. In all ramifications, stevia plant is better and should be used as sweetener instead of cane sugar.

Health benefits of stevia plant

Aside from having a good sweetening ability, it also contributes greatly to the fortification of human health. These are parts of the reasons you should use stevia instead of cane sugar.

• Stevia plant is 300 times sweeter than cane sugar with no detrimental effects on human health.

• Stevia plant extracts are non-carbohydrate, thus, reduces the risk of diabetes.

• Stevia plant has many sterols and natural antioxidant compounds like flavonoids, tannin etc.; which helps to lower blood pressure and control diabetes.

• Stevia plant contains chlorgenic acid; this reduces the enzymatic conversion of glycogen to glucose in addition to decreasing absorption of glucose in the gut. These actions help to reduce the blood sugar levels.

• Compounds in stevia extracts have been found to increase sodium excretion, thus, increases urine output, dilate the blood vessels and also lower blood pressure.

• By the virtue of its lack of carbohydrate, stevia inhibits the growth of bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans in the mouth, which often causes tooth decay and damage

• Stevia plant contains vital minerals and vitamins absent in other sweeteners like cane sugar.

The use of stevia plant as a natural sweetener has been endorsed by the World Health Organization as safe and beneficial to humans in 2006. An official statement was released to affirm this verdict: “stevioside and rebaudioside A are not genotoxic in vitro or in vivo and that the genotoxicity of steviol and some of its oxidative derivatives in vitro is not expressed in vivo”.

PROCESSING AND PREPARATION OF STEVIA PLANT

Stevia plant can be consumed fresh and raw by adding the leaves directly in drinks as sweetener. Though, it is formally processed to dried powder or syrup. Stevia is normally used in small proportion as it is over 300 times sweeter than cane sugar.

Recommendation: 

Stevia plant has been recommended for diabetes patient and pregnant women as it contains no calorie and it is non-carbohydrate. It is safe to use and has numerous health benefits.

Conclusively, the cultivation of stevia plant is very promising; it is a huge opportunity farmers must consider. It is a means of diversification of the economy and the return is very lucrative.