Stevia, the sweet and controversial plant

Stevia has a sweetening power thirty times higher than sugar, a proportion that doubles when used in extract form. However, a great controversy looms over this plant because, apart from the fact that its sale has been prohibited for years, it is the subject of investigation by large companies interested in patenting its extracts.

Why is stevia considered more organic than sugar?

The stevia rebaudiana is a plant of Paraguayan origin called sweet grass and in language Guarani haajee (honey leaf). The Guarani already used it as a medicine and food resource since pre-Columbian times to sweeten the mate and other drinks.

The main producer is Chinafollowed by the area of ​​originwhich comprises Uruguay, Paraguay and the north of Argentina.

It is a plant easy to grow in southern Spain and the Canary Islandsand even on balconies, since it likes sandy soils, generally not very fertile, and reproduces easily per cutting.

When applying stevia stubble powdereither to the ground or to the leaves of the fruit trees, increases the brix degree of fruits (which is the one that measures the sweet taste of food). This cultivation method comes from Japan, and according to agricultural research, stimulates photosynthesis of the plants.

It is considered that the fertilizer with stevia It also improves the rooting of plants, the durability of food (possibly due to a remarkable antioxidant action of stevia) and prevents numerous pests.

Thusis highly defended by associations among which we will cite the movements slow food and the European Stevia Association, led by a professor at the University of Leuven.

In Catalonia, the farmer Josep Pamíesof the Payesa Assembly, is a great driving force behind the cultivation of stevia since the years prior to its regularizationwhich culminated in a fine for infringing the regulations on food safety imposed by the Department of Health of the Generalitat.

Is stevia good for diabetes?

Stevia contains glycosides such as stevioside (its main sweetening agent), rebaudiosides, dulcosides and rabosides.

Recent studies seem to indicate that stevioside reduces the absorption of sugars in the gastrointestinal system, plasma glucose levels and blood pressureas well as having a certain bactericidal effect on food.

Other indicationsaccording to Japanese studies, are the treatment of hypertension, allergies, hepatitis and pericarditisand as prevention of the problems generated by diabetes.

Stevia is recommended in the treatment of diabetes and as a caloric sweetener. It seems to have an antidiabetic action. improving the utilization of insulin.

As a medicinal plant it is recommended in doses of 1 gram dailya dose that could easily be achieved using it as a regular sweetener, especially in people with type II diabetes.

Is very useful in weight reduction diets. Its overall effect (hypotensive, glucose regulator) is just as important as the fact that it does not provide a single calorie.

It usually presents in the form of drops (5 to 10 are enough). In addition, if it is planted, its fresh and crushed leaves they constitute an excellent anti aging mask.

Is it safe to take stevia?

In scientific studies it is considered a fairly safe sweetener in occasional use, and its impact after chronic use is unknown. But stevia can have some side effects.

The first is that its effect on fertility is unclear, since in studies on mice it decreased the sperm count and the number of offspring. There is no data on whether it induces the same effect in humans, although it seems that it can exert an androgenic effect, that is, virilizing.

In 1991, the United States FDA banned its importation and described stevia as an “unsafe additive”.an alert that was revised in 1995, when stevia was allowed to be imported, explicitly labeled as a food supplement or as a dietary supplement or ingredient.

Canada and the European Union banned its use as a food additive for years, with contradictory argumentssometimes relying on news from 1985 about a possible toxicity on the liver, in others on its possible laxative action, which is not documented in medical writings.

The health risk of consuming stevia appears to be equal to or less than that of sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, or saccharin, of which there are doubts as to whether they have a cancer-inducing effect.

The WHO, since 2005, has advocated lifting this ban. In countries like Japan, Israel, Argentina, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, and China, where it is a common sweetener, there have been no undesirable effects of interestwhich would reinforce its apparent innocuousness.

Corporate interests: behind the stevia controversy?

Thus, it was claimed that the ban was driven by food companies such as Nutrasweet, who market other sweeteners, Waiting to get this product registered.

other large multinationals have taken an interest in this humble plant. In 2007, companies Monsanto, Coca-Cola and Cargill (giant of intensive agriculture) announced that they had come together to study stevia, in order to replace with it chemical sweeteners, little accepted by the general population.

Because stevia extracts have a slightly bitter undertone flavor added to the sweetener, these large companies have isolated the sweetening principle eliminating the other flavors, until obtaining the product called rebiana.

Rebiana does not represent a significant advance in the study and use of stevia, because In Japan there are already numerous investigations and processes underway that allow the isolation of steviosides from the other substances present in the extract.