Stevia, a modern natural sweetener extracted from stevia, is also be named as stevia sugar. Stevioside features high sweetness and low calorie and its sweetness is 200-350 times of that of cane sugar but its calorie is only 1/300 of that of cane sugar. A large number of pharmaceutical tests have proved that stevioside has no side effects, carcinogens, and is safe for eating. Constant use can prevent such illnesses as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and carious teeth. It is an extremely ideal sweetener that can replace cane sugar.
Stevia extract as a new natural sweet agent, been widely used in foods, drinks, medicines and daily chemicals, Broadly speaking, in all the sugar products, the stevia extract can be used to take the place of cane sugar or gluside, Presently, stevioside is mainly used in drinks and medicine, especially in beverage. Stevia extract is also used in the frozen food, canned rood, candied fruits, spices, wine, chewing gum and toothpaste, The dosage of stevioside varies according to the difference of products. Stevia Extract can be determined through repeated research and experiments so as to guarantee the quality, feeling, and taste of the product.
The active ingredients, Rebaudioside A, extracted from the herb stevia leaf, is commonly used as the natural sweetener.
Rebaudioside A (sometimes shortened to "Reb A") is a steviol glycoside from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana that is 240 times sweeter than sugar. Rebaudioside A is the sweetest and most stable steviol glycoside, and is less bitter than stevioside. Stevia leaves contain 9.1% stevioside and 3.8% rebaudioside A.
The glycoside contains only glucose (to the exclusion of other commonly found monosaccharides) as its monosaccharide moieties. It contains four glucose molecules in total with the central glucose of the triplet connected to the main steviol structure at its hydroxyl group, and the remaining glucose at its carboxyl group forming an ester bond.