As consumersbecome increasingly aware of the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle,natural products such as Stevia are coming to the fore in the food and beveragemarket. Discovered centuries ago in Paraguay, Stevia is naturally extractedfrom leaves of the SteviaRebaudiana plant and used as a sweetener in foods and drinks.

In overseasmarkets, the use of Stevia has been adopted by several brand leaders in a bidto play their role in the fight against the growing number of people sufferingfrom obesity and its associated health conditions.

Stevia contains nokilojoules or carbohydrates, yet tastes 300 times sweeter than sugar, making itan ideal sugar substitute.Stevia also has no effect on blood sugar or glucose levels, making it suitablefor diabetics to consume. To this end, a well known Cola companies arereplacing their original product with Stevia based products which has 30percent less calories.

New York mayor,Michael Bloomberg has proposed a ban on large soft drinks that contain highvolumes of sugar, such as the well-known “big gulp”. If the ban succeeds,restaurants and fast food chains will not be permitted to sell beverages largerthan 500ml.Further, Bloomberg maintains that bans such as this are a necessarystep if the state is to play a responsible role in combating the country’sproblems with obesity and unhealthy eating habits.

In a similar move,lobbyists have presented a petition to the American Food and DrugAdministration signed by the Harvard School of Public Researchers urging it toregulate the amounts of sugar included in soft drinks. While the petition isunlikely to be successful, it does highlight the fact that the move towardsbanning sweetened drinks and the use of sugar is gaining momentum.

Ultimately,winning the race and proving the criticizers wrong Stevia has been acceptedworldwide and its increasing demand is a genuine proof to prove it right.