Stevioside

Stevioside is one of the naturally occurring sweeteners,belonging to the diterpene glycoside family, which can be widelyapplied in food, drinks, medicine and consumer chemicals. It is agood dietary supplement, being non-calorific, thermally stable,non-toxic, with a sugar-like taste profile, and suitable fordiabetics, phenylketonuria patients and the obese. It is alsonon-fermentable, and exhibits anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant andanti-hyperglycemic properties. Stevioside tastes about 300 timessweeter than 0.4% sucrose solution. Thus, it offers a reasonablyrare combination of health benefits and taste benefits, making theextraction of stevioside is an area of active research for the foodindustry as well as academic food scientists.With the rapidincrease in the popularity of stevioside as a sugar substitute,particularly with regard to its associated health benefits, thereis a need for more efficient and feasible extraction processes forstevioside in the near future. This book offers an in-depth look at perhaps the major"sugar alternative of the future", up-to-date and inline with the latest global legislation regarding its suitabilityfor consumption and its scope for application.