Most of you will never have heard of Stevia.

 

There is a good reason for this.

 

The authorities at the E.U. were approached some years ago and informed that Stevia had not had sufficient testing on humans to prove its safety.

 

That approach was made by Montsanto, the then manufacturers of Aspartame in an attempt to prevent Stevia from becomming widely accepted as an alternative to sugar.

 

Has Stevia been sufficently tested on humans? You tell me.  It has been known about and used by out ancesters for 500 years without problems, and the natives of Paraguy (where the plant grows) have used it for far longer.

 

Currently, it can only be bought from a herbalist, who will "prescribe" it.

 

 

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The name of this plant is stevia rebaudiana, aka sweetleaf.
 
It's native place is Paraguay, where it has been used by the indians there since time immemorial.  It was discovered by the "civilized world" over 500 years ago.  The native Gaurani indians have been "field testing" this sweet substance for at least 1500 years and probably a lot longer.
 
The sweetness comes from a number of naturally occurring polysacharides present in the leaves of the plant, steviacide and rebaudianacide, and has a faint but distinctive flavour of licorice to the unrefined product.
 
Depending on what form you buy it in, it can be as much as 300 times as sweet as sugar but it has several advantages over either sugar or the artificial alternatives available today.
 
1) It does not promote the formation of cavities in teeth - in fact it's antibiotic properties can help in the prevention of them.
 
2) It does not increase the blood sugar levels at all
 
3) It does not cause a craving for carbohydrates like aspartame does - in fact there is a possibility that it can help to control cravings for a lot of things, not just carbs.
 
4) There are claims (which I can neither substantiate nor refute) that stevia actually stimulates the pancreas, thereby aiding further in the control of diabetes.
 
5) There are further claims that stevia can help to reduce high blood pressure, without effecting normal blood pressure at all.
 
In Japan, the use of aspartame has been banned, and a large percentage of their "low sugar" products use stevia as a sweetener.
 
Stevia is available in the USA as a food supplement, but any attempt to get it sold as a sweetener will result in the FDA swooping, seizing stocks and possibly taking further legal action.  Why?  Because of "a major producer of an artificial sweetener" making a complaint that the substance had not been adequately tested on humans.  1500 years of use with no noticeable side effects and it is not adequately tested?
 
The FDA rules state that substances that have been in use for longer than a certain length of time are deemed to be safe if no side effects have been noticed over that time, so there is no need to go back and test something that has been trouble free during that time.  Stevia has been in use for far longer than that period, so technically the FDA is in breach of one of its own rules here, but that just shows you how powerful large companies are these days.
 
Stevia is freely available to import through the internet from America and Japan, but a similar complaint to the EU has meant that all sales of stevia through health food shops and supermarkets is banned.
 
However, if you want to test this substance for yourself, it is available in the form of a tincture through British herbalists who are allowed to sell it for its medicinal properties, so check out the net and the yellow pages for herbalists and test this stuff for yourself.
 
The more refined and powdered forms do not have any discernable taste at all, but the tincture does have a slight liquorice flavour.
 
I suspect that the less refined it is, the more likely it is to have those beneficial side effects, as  the more refined forms concentrate solely on the sweetness, and I do not know whether the other properties are inherent in other chemicals in the leaf, or in the sweet ones.
 
Seeds for this plant are available over the internet from America, but most companies supplying plants will not ship as far as Britain because of the distance.  All indications so far are that the plant is not difficult to grow - one website stating that all it needed was "4 hours of sunlight a day" and protection from frost during the winter.
 
The crushed or chopped leaves of the plant will yield their sweetness if treated like tea leaves and left to steep in hot water for a few minutes,
 
I have tried growing these plants and they grow very successfully In England, but are tender and I lost them in the frosts this spring.  

 

The leaves are VERY sweet, but the sweetness varies a lot between different plants.

 

If you want to try and grow these for yourselves, try Rich Farm Stores in America, that's where I got my seeds from and well be trying again this coming spring.

 
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