A bioeconomy perspective for natural sweetener Stevia

Abstract

The ‘sweet herb’ (El Caa‐ehe), used by the Guaraní tribes living in the forests of today's eastern Paraguay and southern Brazil, is rapidly emerging as a natural sweetener that is an alternative both to sugar and synthetic sweeteners, well beyond Japan where it has been widely used since the mid‐1970s. Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni contains very sweet steviol glycosides in its leaves, which do not add calories and do not cause an increase in blood sugar levels. The glycoside that is most abundant in the leaves, stevioside, has high reactive oxygen species quenching activity and several properties that are beneficial to health. Rapid advances in green chemistry technology allow the production of stevia extracts that are devoid of any liquorice‐like after taste. Their high chemical and physical stability enables them to be used in baked and beverage food products and this supports the large‐scale use of stevia as a natural sweetener. Addressing bioeconomic aspects ranging from production to product formulation, this study identifies the last obstacles prior to general adoption of S. rebadudiana as a sweetener that is beneficial for health. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Stevia Plant - Alternative Sweetner in Food Technology

“…The candyplant leaves contain glycosides of the diterpene steviol such as stevioside and rebaudiosides A which are up to 400 times sweeter than sucrose (sugar), releasing almost no calories in the body and not affecting blood sugar levels, thereby helping in calorie reduction. The glycosides, furthermore, do not undergo fermentation in the mouth thus causing no tooth attack and cavity formation (Talevi, 2018;(Ciriminna et al, 2018). Sugar and fat intake and linked excess of energy (calories) present the most significant contributors to rising obesity and obesity-linked diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.…”

Process Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis of Large-Scale Bioproduction of Sweet Protein Thaumatin II

“…Stevia, the common name for glycoside extracts (rebaudioside A and stevioside) from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana , is a natural, sweet-tasting calorie-free botanical that is currently gaining popularity as a sugar substitute or as an alternative to artificial sweeteners [ 15 ]. Recent reports project the annual growth rate of stevia compounds to be 6.1% and 8.2%, during 2015–2024 and 2017–2024, respectively [ 16 ]. Stevia has gained industry acceptance in recent years due to its ease of cultivation in several countries across the globe [ 16 ] and its high sweetness index (160–250 times sweeter than sucrose [ 17 ]).…”

Process Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis of Large-Scale Bioproduction of Sweet Protein Thaumatin II

“…Stevia, the common name for glycoside extracts (rebaudioside A and stevioside) from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, is a natural, sweet-tasting calorie-free botanical that is currently gaining popularity as a sugar substitute or as an alternative to artificial sweeteners (Anton et al, 2010). Recent reports project the annual growth rate of stevia compounds to be 6.1% and 8.2%, during 2015-2024 and 2017-2024, respectively (Ciriminna, Meneguzzo, Pecoraino, & Pagliaro, 2019). Stevia has gained industry acceptance in recent years due to its ease of cultivation in several countries across the globe (Ciriminna et al, 2019) and its high sweetness index (160-250 times sweeter than sucrose (von Rymon Lipinski, 2015).…”

“…Recent reports project the annual growth rate of stevia compounds to be 6.1% and 8.2%, during 2015-2024 and 2017-2024, respectively (Ciriminna, Meneguzzo, Pecoraino, & Pagliaro, 2019). Stevia has gained industry acceptance in recent years due to its ease of cultivation in several countries across the globe (Ciriminna et al, 2019) and its high sweetness index (160-250 times sweeter than sucrose (von Rymon Lipinski, 2015). This shows that the growth of stevia's use as a sugar substitute, despite taste limitations of the marketed glycosides (Tao & Cho, 2020), was contingent on the feasibility of its large-scale manufacturing.…”