This reversed the 1991 action when the FDA stopped all importation of stevia leaves and stevia products. While current FDA rulings prohibit the labeling of stevia in any form as a sweetener or flavor enhancer, this is the true future of stevia. Stevia, which is 30 times sweeter than sugar but contains no calories, has been used as a sweetener in Paraguay for over 1500 years and surrounding countries for centuries. In the 1970's the Japanese developed a method of refining the sweet glycosides out of the stevia leaf, creating a new product called Stevioside, which is 300 times sweeter then sugar. While Stevioside does not affect blood glucose levels and is an excellent sweetener for both diabetics and hypoglycemics, it does not retain the other extraordinary healing benefits of stevia leaves and extract.
Stevia is the sweetener of the future.
Processed forms of pure Stevia can be 70-400 times sweeter than sugar. Whether these products are called Stevia, Stevioside, rebaudioside, Stevia Extract, or Stevia Concentrate, if they are in their in their pure, unadulterated form they do not adversely affect blood glucose levels and may be used freely by both diabetics and hypoglycemics. Stevia is the most desirable sweetener. In all of its current forms Stevia has a taste unique to itself. Along with its sweetness, there is also a bitter component.