Stevia, an intensely sweet tasting plant has had major contributions to the food and beverage industry since the 16th Century. The discovery of stevia is often credited to, Moises Santiago Bertoni, who was an Italian botanist. He did his discovery in the late 1800s, although, it has been documented that individuals from Guarani had used it for centuries (Giuffré et al. 2013). The name stevia, however comes from a physician and Spanish botanist Petrus Jacobus Stevus. Until the year 1931 there was limited research conducted on the components of stevia, this same year two French chemists were able to isolate the glycosides that gives the component its sweet taste. Stevia is extracted from leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana (Durán A. et al. 2013). The active compound that make up stevia is steviol glycoside which composes up to 150 times the sweetness of the common sugar. The compound has an added advantage in that it is not fermentable, pH stable and are heat stable. In addition, stevia has a lower onset of the sugar concentration and longer duration compared to that of normal sugar.
Various research has shown that the intake of stevia as a replacement of sugar is beneficial in various ways. For instance, it has been discovered that it can be used to benefit individuals living with diabetes(Urban et al. 2015). However, there are findings that the component constituting stevia maybe mutagenic in in vitro testing. The good news is that the effects have not been demonstrated in human beings who have consumed it. Obesity is the excessive accumulation of fat to an extent that it may have health risk to an individual. Sugar has been associated with the deposition of calories leading to obesity. However, this is different when it comes to stevia since it has zero traces of calories hence having a health benefit. The glycoside present in stevia when cooked or baked does not breakdown to calories and that aids in losing weight faster preventing individuals from being obese(Ashwell 2015).
Ask your questions to our best writers for quality and timely essay answers. Learn smartly and seek help from our solution library that grooms your concepts with over 150 courses.
From essays to dissertations, we have experts for all your writing needs!
