Following our post on GM sugar beets, it was time we wrote about a new, promising, natural sweetener called rebiana (or Rebaudioside A, also known as Reb A). It is a high-intensity sweetener derived from the stevia leaf which grows in South East Asia (mostly Vietnam, Thailand, China…) and South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru…). In December 2008, Reb A was generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as a food additive, whose safety was recently evidenced by a study published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology (April 2009).
Lately, the potential of stevia sweeteners as mainstream sugar replacers and diet-related product has been largely discussed:
- Stevia-derived Reb A is a high intensity sweetener, it is 200 times sweeter than sugar.
- It has a negligible glycemic index (little to no effect on blood glucose).
- This sweetener has zero-calorie.
- It can be used to replace up to 20% of sugar in a product.
- It is GMO-free…
While Reb A will find many useful applications in diabetic-related diets or low-calorie products, it is also considered a cost effective alternative to sugar, on par with the $0.77 per kilo cost of sugar. This will be possible provided the market develops and creates economies of scale as important supply chain investments are expected to encourage large scale penetration of the market by Reb A, according to major Reb A supplier PureCircle.
We look forward to sourcing new zero-calorie, all natural Reb A sweetened chocolates for you when they become available. We are committed to growing our offering of healthy chocolates.
Tags: diet sugar, diet sweetener, GM sugar, GMO-free sugar, healthy sugar, low-calorie diet, low-calorie sugar, natural sweetener, Reb A, rebiana, stevia, sugar, sugar for diabetic, zero calorie sugar, zero-calorie sweetener
I am surprised that you don’t mention that Stevia can be purchased in it’s natural form at health food stores and is readily available in personal-sized containers of sweeteners. Also, while you list many countries in which Stevia is grown, Canada, where it is grown plentifully (especially in the Niagara region) is not included There is a good link here for more about this plant:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/stevia.htm
You are very correct, Stevia does already exist in retail outlets. But up until recently only, it was not allowed as a food ingredient in product formulation. As a retailer, we hope to be carrying stevia-sweetened gourmet treats soon.
This is great news! We are very proud of Canada for growing such a great natural sweetener. We hope North America steps up and becomes a leading supplier of Reb A.