Saturday, May 25, 2013

Stevia, natural sweetener


By Ruth Ferraz Byrnes

 When I was a teenager I learned that refined sugar is bad for health. Since then I have used and searched for more natural alternatives: brown sugar and honey, but I discovered that the brown is often masked with melasso. Artificial sweeteners although containing a lot of chemicals, they are much more dangerous to health than white sugar. [...]


It's been over 15 years I have found stevia, which is the natural sweetening more powerful than sugar 300th most common and has the advantage of not being aftertaste, and pleasant to taste. 1.0 g stevioside has approximately 3.8 Kcal and sweetens the equivalent of two tablespoons of table sugar (sucrose).

Currently because of its advantages this little plant has spread throughout the world and until  they are american who has planted in their garden. I've tried it and the leave and I can say it is really very sweet and pleasant.

 I was searching the internet and found this: "Species of the genus Stevia, Asteracease family, originally from South America, Sierra de Amambaí (MS), border region between Brazil and Paraguay. Shrubby plant habit forming, over time, multiple shoots and measuring 40-80 cm in height. The root is perennial, fibrous and thready. Stevia, called stevia, became quite popular when a powerful sweetener derived from the leaves has been used as a powdered extract in the countries of South America was already used by Guarani Indians to sweeten remedies. "(Wikipedia).

Market 

In its natural form, the stevioside is a white powder and is presented in this form or in liquid form (diluted). Some companies are already offering products such as chocolate, condiments and jellies. But one must be careful when buying it industrialized because this often mixed with other chemicals. There are some good and pure brands, which produces Stevia in drops and powder also good to prepare recipes.

Health

Preserve health is a duty, then so why we must be stuffing ourselves with things that are not healthy, such as sugar, if today there is much better alternatives. Think that in Jesus' time everything was all natural, there was not these refined products that exist today, they probably sweetened with honey! The Bible mentions many times, "sweet as honey". But always remember: "it is not what goes into the mouth defiles us and from the heart," as Jesus said.

Bibliography:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia_rebaudiana http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia_rebaudiana

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