{"id":2740,"date":"2008-08-08T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/stevia-history.html"},"modified":"2016-08-12T13:40:38","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T13:40:38","slug":"stevia-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2740","title":{"rendered":"Stevia History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For centuries, the Guaran\u00ed tribes of Paraguay and Brazil used a plant tthey called ka’a he’\u00ea (“sweet herb”), to sweeten medicinal teas for treating heartburn and other ailments. The leaves of the stevia plant have 30\u201345 times the sweetness of sucrose (ordinary table sugar).<\/p>\n

To prepare it in the traditional way, the leaves of the stevia plant are collected and dried, then crushed to a powder. You may see this light brown powder sold in bags or bottles. Of all of the stevia plant, only the leaves are sweet. The stems and leaf veins tend to be bitter and so are not included in high-quality stevia leaf products. The fresh green leaves can also be brewed to make a tea.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Swiss botanist Mois\u00e9s Bertoni first described the plant and its sweetness, then in the early 1930’s, two French chemists isolated the chemicals that give stevia its sweet taste. These compounds were named stevioside and rebaudioside, and are 250\u2013300 times sweeter than sucrose, heat stable, pH stable, and non-fermentable.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The Japanese:<\/strong><\/div>\n
In the early 1970s, Japan began cultivating stevia so they wouldn’t have to eat nasty artificial sweeteners like cyclamate and saccharin, which are suspected carcinogens. They’ve been using stevia in food products, soft drinks (including Coca Cola), and for table use. Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other country, with stevia accounting for 40% of the sweetener market.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Other asian countries that use Stevia include China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia, as well as Saint Kitts and Nevis, and parts of South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay) on this side of the Atlantic. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For centuries, the Guaran\u00ed tribes of Paraguay and Brazil used a plant tthey called ka’a he’\u00ea (“sweet herb”), to sweeten medicinal teas for treating heartburn and other ailments. The leaves … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[311],"class_list":["post-2740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-stevia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-Ic","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2739,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2739","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":0},"title":"Growing Stevia","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't wait to grow this. Andrew Weil pointed out that he grows this naturally occurring herb on his ranch. A place called directgardening.com sells them on the internet.And actually, I've read that Stevia will grow in almost any climate, if it is given good soil, fertilizer, and light conditions.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1933,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1933","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":1},"title":"Stevia and The Tooth","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Stevia comes from a South American plant (Stevia rebaudiana) that happens to be very very sweet, but doesn't contain calories or nutritive value. It's like a natural form of the synthetic versions found in the wedding mint colored packets (powder blue, sunshine yellow, and It's-A-Girl pink) in any coffee shop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"stevia plant","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.huffpost.com\/gen\/2166848\/thumbs\/o-STEVIA-PLANT-570.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2741,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2741","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":2},"title":"On Your Mark, Get Set, Stevia!","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here it comes, the next new thing. Stevia has been locked out of the U.S. sweetener market but, perhaps in a battle of the titans, the soda industry has opened a path for its entry.Over the next few days, I'll be highlighting the science, nutritional and political, behind the new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"artificial sweetener\"","block_context":{"text":"artificial sweetener","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=artificial-sweetener"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2738,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2738","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":3},"title":"Stevia Science","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Get ready for controversy. The FDA has blocked Stevia. Advocates cry foul, saying they are held to an unrealistic standard, given that this plant has been used indiginously for centuries. It's a plant. But the FDA cites 1968 research conducted by Joseph Kuc, that showed a contraceptive effect on female\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"stevia\"","block_context":{"text":"stevia","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=stevia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2530,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2530","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":4},"title":"Stevia the Holy Grail of Sweeteners?","author":"Will Clower","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, Stevia is derived from a plant, but so was ephedra (ma huang) -- which contributed to heart valve problems.Yes it is GRAS (generally recognized as safe), but so is Aspartame. This article comes from a very food industry perspective. And, for them, Stevia may really be the Holy Grail\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1988,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1988","url_meta":{"origin":2740,"position":5},"title":"Which Sugars Are Best? Just remember the 3 rules …","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I was on KDKA-TV this morning talking about all the sweeteners out there -- there are tons of them!!Here is the link for the video:\u00a0Real and Artificial Sweeteners - YouTubeFirst we moved through the artificial ones ... the synthetics that are between 100 -- 200 TIMES as sweet as sugar.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/ArtificialSweeteners.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3735,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2740\/revisions\/3735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}