5 things you need to know about stevia

Stevia's sweetness has the big guys drooling. Calorie-free, natural and 200 to 300 times sweeter than regular sugar, stevia's characteristics recently wooed soft drink makers Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to add it to a few of their drinks in the U.S., so you might expect to find it in food products sold in Canada soon.

Read on for five things you should know about this natural sweetener.

1. Stevia is an herb
Stevia's botanical name is Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni. Its concentrated sweetness comes from components inside the leaves -- steviodside and rebaudioside A -- which are extracted and used as a sugar substitute. Stevia also has two new aliases known as Truvia and Purevia. They're recent brand names of rebaudioside A (or Reb A), which are in select sodas and drinks sold south of the border.

2. Stevia is not new
The stevia shrub is native to Paraguay but it's also cultivated in different parts of the world, including Canada. Natives in South America have enjoyed stevia for centuries and it has been in Japan' s commercial foodstuffs since the 1970s. In Canada, many nutrition nuts have used it in their home-cooked meals for years -- it's available at health food stores in place of other low-cal sweeteners.

3. Stevia recently hit the mass market in the U.S.
December 2008 was an important month for stevia. That's when the herbal sugar substitute debuted commercially in a few PepsiCo drinks and Coca-Cola's new Sprite Green and some of its Odwalla bevies.

A strong push from customers was a driving force behind why stevia-based sweeteners were added to Coca-Cola items. "Consumers were looking for a great-tasting, natural and zero-calorie beverage and the Coca-Cola Company has provided just that," explains Kristy Payne, spokesperson for Coca-Cola Canada. So far, drinkers have positively responded to these newer, healthier options.

4. Stevia is not yet approved for commercial use in Canada
Health Canada bans the commercial use of stevia extracts, such as steviodside, in foodstuffs. Christelle Legault, a spokesperson for Health Canada, explains that steviodside as an additive was reviewed at one point, but there wasn't enough evidence available to prove its safety.

But it just might be a matter of time before Health Canada lifts its ban on stevia. "The examination of the use of stevia extracts as food additives must be triggered by the request from the food industry," says Legault. "It would be up to the petitioner to provide all scientific data necessary to demonstrate the safety of their proposal."

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