Stevia-based sweeteners are natural sweeteners drawn out from the stevia plant, known for their high sweet taste levels with little to no calories.
New research from the University of Surrey recommends that natural sweeteners stemmed from stevia can offer the very same level of sweetness as sugar while producing just 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions.
A Life Cycle Assessment performed by scientists on steviol glycosides drawn out from stevia revealed that the production of this sweetener has a lower ecological effect in different areas when compared to sugar. The evaluation highlighted that making use of stevia might potentially reduce land usage and water usage, while still offering the same level of sweet taste as sugar.
Numerous non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), like steviol glycosides, can reproduce the taste of sugar, however without the associated health dangers, such as tooth diabetes, decay, or weight problems. They can do this because they are often times sweeter than sugar. For example, 4g of steviol glycosides offers the sweetness equivalent of 1,000 g sugar, since it is viewed to be 250 times sweeter.
Dr. James Suckling, the lead author of the research study operating in the University of Surreys Centre for Environment and Sustainability, stated: “The usage of steviol glycosides and comparable natural products could be sweet news for the health of our planet. However, our research study readily confesses that much more work needs to be done to understand the health impacts of steviol glycosides and other non-nutritive sweeteners when taken in as part of a wider diet.”
Referral: “Environmental life process evaluation of production of the high intensity sweetener steviol glycosides from Stevia rebaudiana leaf grown in Europe: The SWEET job” by J. Suckling, S. Morse, R. Murphy, S. Astley, J. C. G. Halford, J. A. Harrold, A. Le-Bail, E. Koukouna, H. Musinovic, J. Perret, A. Raben, M. Roe, J. Scholten, C. Scott, C. Stamatis and C. Westbroek, 14 January 2023, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.DOI: 10.1007/ s11367-022-02127-9.
