| Rebaudioside
A, the sweet sibling of stevioside |
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Next
to stevioside,
rebaudioside
A or Reb A for short is the most important glycoside
substance that can be extracted from stevia, through a precise process
that includes drying of the leaves, grinding them into powder and then
using fresh water to brew out the extract.
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Although
stevioside (up to 12%) is more explicitly present in the stevia leaves
than Reb A (up to 4%), recent research has pointed out that the latter
is the sweetest of the
two - no less than 400 times sweeter than
sucrose! Rebaudiose A even tastes sweeter than its sibling, next to the
somewhat bitter aftertaste of stevioside.
Next to its sweetness, reb A has a lot of advantages:
- it's 100%
natural
- it's soluble in
water
- it's pH
neutral
- the sweet taste remains
stable in
temperatures up to 200°C (392°F),
which makes cooking with stevia easy!
- it's dry and can be
stored for a long
period of time without it molding,
fermenting or going bad
- it holds no toxins, no
side effects of
any kind have been reported
in either animals or humans
- it has zero
calories
- there are ties between
the prevention
of diabetes and stevia, as the sweet leaf
has a glycemic index of zero!
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Ever
since it received GRAS-approval (Generally Recognised As
Safe) from the FDA at the end of 2008, reb A has been gaining
popularity over stevioside, and researchers all over the world are
looking to see whether it's possible to increase the amount of reb A in
stevia through genetic
manipulation of the plant.
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