Stevia

Natural sweetener herb has spawned a billion dollar industry

Without a doubt stevia, the natural sweetener herb from Paraguay, in South America, is the hottest new commercial herb crop today. Crop acreage is expanding in Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. Consumer products such as soft drinks and diet foods are featuring calorie-free sweeteners derived from the stevia plant. And as stevia becomes better known, garden centres and nurseries are starting to offer potted plants to gardeners. Stevia contains compounds called steviosides that are 300 times sweeter than sugar. Because the body does not metabolize steviosides they do not contribute any caloric value to food. Diabetics and others unable to tolerate sugar can take stevia with immunity. Dieters love stevia because they can continue to enjoy sweets without counting calories.



In the United States and Canada stevia use in the processed food industry is prohibited. Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Administration say that there is not enough safety evidence to permit stevia use in foods – this despite hundreds of years of use in South America, and a 70 history of safe use in Japan where its use in foods is allowed. Cynics in the herb industry believe that the powerful sugar and artificial sweetener lobbies are behind the anachronistic ruling by the regulators. As things stand now, stevia may be sold as a dried herb and as an extract but it cannot be added to other foods.
Despite the restrictions, stevia use is climbing in North America. Powdered extracts that look and feel like white sugar and liquid extracts that look and feel like honey or syrup are widely available in health food stores and groceries. Unlike artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, steviosides do not break down under heat, so if the regulators change their minds and allow stevia use in foods such as baked goods, the market for stevia will explode overnight.
In India where a rapidly growing affluence coupled with a traditional love for sweets is causing the incidence of Type II diabetes to soar. Interest in stevia cultivation is very high, to the point where banks are financing farmers switching to stevia and national crop insurers are insuring stevia crops. China, also grappling with a rapidly changing socioeconomic condition, has quietly become the world's leading grower of stevia leaf and producer of stevia powder. 
Growing Stevia