stevia

1.Meets the requirements
2.KOSHER, ISO, HALAL
3.low calorie sweetener

Current availability

Widely used as a sweetener Japan (1970)Available as a food additive (sweetener) Australia, and New Zealand (October 2008)— All steviol glycoside extracts Brazil (1986)— Stevioside extract France — Approved 97% or greater purity rebaudioside A for a 2-year test starting September 2009Hong Kong (steviol glycosides, January 2010)Mexico (2009) — Mixed steviol glycoside extract, not separate extracts Paraguay - used for centuries as a medicinal herb and sweetener for mate, or hot herbal tea. Currently widely available in liquid form as a sugar substitute. Russian Federation (2008) — stevioside allowed in the "minimal dosage required" to achieve the goal of the additive.Available as a dietary supplement Canada Available as both a food additive and dietary supplement Switzerland Mixed steviol glycoside extracts with greater than 95% purity available as a food additive (2008)High purity rebaudioside A as a food additive (2009)United States Stevia leaf and extracts are available as dietary supplements (1995) Rebaudioside A is available (December 2008) as a food additive (sweetener). It is available under multiple trade names including: Only Sweet, PureVia, Reb-A, Rebiana, SweetLeaf, and Truvia Available (regulatory status unverified) Argentina, Chile, China (1984), Colombia, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Vietnam Banned European Union The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) gave a positive safety assessment for steviol glycosides (not the stevia plant) in April 2010. Wim Debeuckelaere of the Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG Sanco) stated in June 2011 that stevia is on schedule for approval by the EC in “November or December [of 2011] at the latest.” Norway  Singapore  Availability notesIn areas in which stevia is banned as a sweetener, it may be available for other uses. For example, stevia may be available from online shops, or found in health food stores declared as a herbal supplement, cosmetics, natural medicaments, or other nonsweetener product. In the United States, rebaudioside A is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as of December 2008. The leaves and other extracts are available as dietary supplements. In Australia and New Zealand, prior to their October 2008 approval of all steviol glycoside extracts, stevia leaves could be sold as food. The European Food Safety Authority conducted a safety review, and reported in March 2010 that steviol glycosides are safe up to an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 4 mg/kg body weight/day, although those levels are likely to be exceeded at the proposed maximum use levels in both adults and children.

Safety

A 1985 study reported that steviol, a breakdown product from stevioside and rebaudioside (two of the sweet steviol glycosides in the stevia leaf), is a mutagen in the presence of a liver extract of rats pretreated with a PCB blend — but this finding was criticized on procedural grounds that the data were mishandled in such a way that even distilled water would appear mutagenic. Over the following years, bioassay, cell culture, and animal studies have shown mixed results in terms of toxicology and adverse effects of stevia constituents. While reports emerged that found steviol and stevioside to be weak mutagens, the bulk of studies show an absence of harmful effects. In a 2008 review, 14 of 16 studies cited showed no genotoxic activity for stevioside, 11 of 15 studies showed no genotoxic activity for steviol, and no studies showed genotoxicity for rebaudioside A. No evidence for stevia constituents causing cancer or birth defects has been found.

Other studies have shown stevia to improve insulin sensitivity in rats, and possibly even to promote additional insulin production,helping to reverse diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Preliminary human studies suggest stevia can help reduce hypertension, although another study has shown it to have no effect on hypertension. Indeed, millions of Japanese have been using stevia for over thirty years with no reported or known harmful effects. Similarly, stevia leaves have been used for centuries in South America, spanning multiple generations in ethnomedical tradition as a treatment for Diabetes mellitus type 2.

In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) performed a thorough evaluation of recent experimental studies of stevioside and steviols conducted on animals and humans, and concluded "stevioside and rebaudioside A are not genotoxic in vitro or in vivo and that the genotoxicity of steviol and some of its oxidative derivatives in vitro is not expressed in vivo."The report also found no evidence of carcinogenic activity. Furthermore, the report noted "stevioside has shown some evidence of pharmacological effects in patients with hypertension or with Diabetes mellitus type 2", but concluded further study was required to determine proper dosage. The WHO's Joint Experts Committee on Food Additives has approved, based on long-term studies, an acceptable daily intake of steviol glycoside of up to 4 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

Beginning in 2009 in the United States, the U.S. FDA considers "Rebiana (rebaudioside A) to be Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)". With respect to the measure of toxicity, which can be described as the median lethal dose or LD50, a report submitted to the FDA documents "the observed LD50 values were 5.2 g/kg bw for male hamsters and 6.1 g/kg bw for female hamsters." The report includes a detailed list of international studies, references, and chemical analysis.