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STORY THE BITTERSWEET STEVIA HERB THE The sweet stevia herb has had a long, safe history of use as a food and medicine in South America and Asia, but in many Western countries it is illegal as a food or food additive but legal as a dietary supplement. t's easy to grow, wonderful as a sweetener, contains medicinal properties, is non- caloric, safe to cook with, and has great potential in agriculture. It's widely used in South America and Asia. So why isn't stevia a household name in the rest of the world? Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a herb native to Paraguay. It is also known as "honey yerba" and "honeyleaf" and by other variations of these names. The mature plant stands from around 65 centimetres (26 inches) to as tall as 180 cm (72 in) when culti- vated or growing naturally in fertile soil. Historical records show that the leaves have been used for hundreds of years by the Guarani Indians, who named the plant cad- éhé. The main use was as a sweetener, particularly in their green tea, known as maté. It was also used in medicine or as a snack. Stevia's leaf is estimated to be 150 to 300 times sweeter than refined sugar. M. S. Bertoni, in the late 1800s, was the first European to document stevia. In 1931, French chemists extracted stevioside from the herb in the form of an intensely sweet, white crystalline compound. The herb was then considered for use as a sweet- ener during the food shortages experienced by Britain during World War II. However, interest waned when sugar again became available. Since this time, stevia has been used extensively in many Asian and South American countries, but the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe have not embraced the herb as a sweetener, opting either for sugar from readily available sugar cane or sugar beet, or for aspartame-based and other artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute. More than 150 varieties of stevia exist, but Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is the only sweet stevia plant. Carbohydrate-based compounds from the stevia leaf can be isolat- ed to glycosides known as steviosides. Stevioside is a glycoside of the diterpene derivative steviol, and is a natural component of the plant. Stevioside is intensely sweet and is present at levels up to 13% in the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. Rebaudiosides and dulcosides are other sweet chemical constituents of the plant that can be extracted. Stevia, the FDA and Big Business In the USA, stevia does not have "Generally Recognized As Safe" (GRAS) status for consumption, and is therefore "prohibited from use in human food" under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. According to the Act, any food or drink containing stevia is an "adulterated" substance. However, while stevia may not be sold as a sweetener, it may be legally purchased and taken internally. In amongst all the contradiction and confusion, this means that stevia is available for human consumption—but only when classified as a dietary supplement or herb. It has been suggested that stevia has not been granted GRAS status in the interests of Big Business. In the late 1980s, a trade complaint was registered with the FDA, as tea containing stevioside was being sold by Celestial Seasonings. The Stevia.net website has a copy of an FDA memorandum concerning the incident; it was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and complainant names (company name and legal representatives) were deleted by the FDA to protect the informant's identity. In 1991, stevia was deemed unsafe and was banned from the USA completely. It was only legalised as a dietary supplement due to the changing of law with the introduction of the DSHEA. by Jenny Hawke © 2002 c/- NEXUS Magazine PO Box 30 Mapleton, Qld 4560, Australia Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280 Email: nexusmagazine@optusnet.com NEXUS = 23 History and Chemistry by Jenny Hawke © 2002 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com