Warren County Connection A Publication of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County
January 2022
Stevia, a Natural, Zero-Calorie Sweetener By Dr. Marybeth Mitcham, Nutrition, Food Safety & Healthy Living Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County In the baking aisle at the grocery store, shoppers can usually find many different types of sweeteners. Most of the natural sweeteners are in the form of sucrose. Although there are a variety of different options (corn syrup, honey, molasses, maple syrup, etc.), most people use granulated sugar to sweeten their baked goods. The granulated sugar that can be purchased comes from two different plants, sugarcane or sugar beets. The natural sugars in these plants are refined to produce white granulated sugar, or have molasses added back in to produce brown sugar. Although these products are originally derived from natural sources (hence the term natural sweetener), many people strive to avoid using them, hoping to avoid unnecessary weight gain and other negative health issues that can come from consuming too much sugar. Other options for sweeteners include non-nutritive sweeteners, like aspartame or sucralose, or sugar alcohols, such as maltitol. Although these artificial sweeteners do not raise blood sugar levels in the same way that natural sweeteners do, there have been some studies whose results suggest that high levels of artificial sweetener consumption may result in adverse health conditions, such as cancer or gastric distress.1 For people who are striving to con-
In this issue:
sume a healthy, natural alternative to refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, stevia may be a good option. This non-glycemic sweetener, whose glycosides make it over 200 times sweeter than sugar, is derived from Stevia rebaundia, a perennial (zones 9-11), native to Paraguay. This plant has recently grown in its popularity in the United States, in commercial growth application and for personal use. Growing up to 4 feet tall, stevia’s sweet leaves are best harvested right before the plant flowers, usually in late summer or early fall, and each plant produces up to around one-half pound of leaves.1-2
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Special points of interest: •
Although this information might be interesting to people who love to garden, what most people find interesting is the potential applications of stevia. Firstly, since stevia does not impart an effect on a person’s glyce (Continued on page 9)
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