Stevia Rebaudiana is a plant native to South America, the plant originates from Paraguay and has been used for more than 200 years in its natural form, mainly to sweeten beverages and food. In the plant form, it is approximately 30 times sweeter than sugar, but with modern technology, it is more common for it to be used as a zero calorie natural sweetener, stevia extracts can be between 200-350 times sweeter.
Stevia is a safe substitute for sugar, it is zero calories and carries many other health benefits too. Stevia has been labelled safe for the general population, including children, people with diabetes, and women who are pregnant or nursing. Stevia sweeteners are permitted for use in many countries, including the European Union, Japan, China, Australia, Brazil, and the U.S. You can read more from The European Food Safety Authority.
In its extracted form, Stevia has a broad range of uses. Most simply being used to sweeten a cup of tea or coffee, to its advance uses of being used as a flavour enhancing ingredient in make up and cosmetics or even pharmaceuticals. There also some great health benefits of using Stevia as a sugar free sweetener, mainly being zero calories, this can aid with weight management and fat loss. There really is no end of uses to this wonderful plant, for more of our recommendations see Uses & Benefits.
