Stevia has been used in South America for hundreds years asfood additive. It is well known that the major compounds of stecia extract, stevioside and rebaudioside, have about 200 times than the sweetness of sucrose. Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose. It is very promising if stevia could be used as a natural sweetener in daily carbohydratecontrolled diets.
The concerns about stevia extracts' safety has been dispelled. Recent research has showed stevia is a safe, natural food additive. Evidences have showed stevia extracts are not associated with toxicity. Several researches have showed stevia extracts are not mutagens, they are totally safe. The previous study implied stevia had carcinogenicity is not relievable. On the contrast, stevioside was found to inhibit the promotion of certain tumor in a new study.
Furthermore, stevia has significant effect in decreasing blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Stevia may have a potential pharmacological application on hypertension and diabetes.

According to those new solid data, the IPGS of WHO recommended stevia as a safe food additive in 2006. FDA approved rebaudioside A as GRAS in 2008. The EU countries would also approve the applications of stevia in food industry in this year.
Those recommendations and new regulations would increase the consumptions of stevia extracts all over the world. Stevia extracts would not only be used as sweetens in food, beverages, but also be used in new applications such as chocolates, toothpastes and so on. Some leading companies in personal care industry have released their toothpaste products containing stevia extracts.

China has the largest stevia plantation zone and be the largest exporter of stevioside. However, the outcome of stevia extracts in China still can not fulfill the market demanding. Several new stevia plantation zones projects have been submitted to government and are waiting for approval.
The disaster weather last year caused droughts over China, including some large stevia plantation zones. The total outcome of steviaproducts in China should be affected in 2011.
As a professional raw material supplier for a decade, Cactus Botanics retains a complete line of Stevia Extracts. Depending on your specific formulation needs, we will help you sort out the most suitable stevia products. Our Stevia Extracts products have different proportions of RebaudiosideA and Stevioside, the purity of each steviol glycoside can up to 90%. The Rebaudioside C& D in our stevia extract products are reduced to minimum amount. The sweetness of our products ranges from 270 to 480 times. Please inquire us for details about our products.

Reference
Konoshima, T. & Takasaki, M. (2002) Cancer-chemopreventive effects of natural sweeteners and related compounds. Pure Appl. Chem., 74, 1309–1316.;
Chan, et a; J. (2000) A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effectiveness and tolerability of oral stevioside in human hypertension. Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol., 50, 215–220;
Hsieh, M., et al . (2003) Efficacy and tolerability of oral stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension: A two-year, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Clin. Therap., 25, 2797–2808;
WHO FOOD ADDITIVES SERIES: 54 Safety evaluation of certain food additives World Health Organization, Geneva, 2006



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