REVIEW ON STEVIA REBAUDIANA AS A NON-CALORIC NATURAL SWEETENER PRODUCING PLANT

S R Ahmed and S Mukta
Journal of the Sylhet Agricultural University, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2017, Pages 15-25

Abstract:

Stevia rebaudiana, a medicinal plant, is a darling gift of nature. It is well-aquainted for its non-caloric bio-sweeteners and medicinal value. Previous studies have shown that Stevia leaf contains phytochemicals which has therapeutic values such as antioxidants, antimicrobials, antidiabetics, antihypertensive, cardiotonic etc. Human nutritions exist in great content in Stevia leaves owing to its good proximate composition, mineral contents and health-promoting phytochemical constituents. Various extraction methods and techniques were used to extract, purify, characterize and analyze natural herbal sweetener, stevioside and rebaudioside, which are the chief components of sweetness. Leaves of Stevia are enriched with high content of protein, carbohydrate, some essential minerals, all indispensible amino acids except tryptophan, folic acid, vitamin C and some bioactive chemical constituents as well as palmitic and linolenic acids. Both stevioside and rebaudioside are metabolized by intestinal microorganism. Rebaudioside is transformed to steviol and finally it produces glucose and a molecule of steviol. Different scientific reports suggested no adverse side effects observed in taking stevia powder as sweeteners. Many suitable protocols have been established for in vitro regeneration of the sweetener plant Stevia. This review article flourishes the collection of basic data on Stevia plant to present the beneficial role of Stevia and its metabolites on health promoting properties.

Keywords:

Stevia, leaves, sweetener, stevioside, phytochemicals


Full Text

PDF

829 Views


Cite this article

S R Ahmed and S Mukta. 2017. REVIEW ON STEVIA REBAUDIANA AS A NON-CALORIC NATURAL SWEETENER PRODUCING PLANT, Journal of the Sylhet Agricultural University 4(1): 15-25.