Background of Stevia.....

Stevia is an incredibly sweet herb, obtained by a natural selective breeding process of the sweetest Stevia parent plants. The sweetener, Stevioside, extracted from the plants, is arguably 300 times sweeter than sugar. The fresh leaves have a nice liquorice taste. What makes the Stevia plant so special is that it can be used to replace sugar (sucrose). Many different uses of Stevia are already well-known: (as table sugar, in soft drinks, pastry, pickles, tobacco products, candy, jam, yoghurt, chewing gum, sorbets, bakery products). After US FDA nod as food additive and sweetner in December 2009, there is a humongous demand supply gap. The dried leaves of Stevia are about 40 times sweeter than the sugar.
The documented properties of Stevia are antibacterial, anti fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti- viral, anti-yeast, cardiotonic, diuretic, hypoglycemic and hence a boon to diabetic people, hypotensive, tonic, and vasodilator. Indeed, the leaves contain diterpene glucosides with a sweet taste but which are not metabolised and contain no calories. The biggest part of the sweet glucosides consists of the stevioside molecule.
Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni (Bertoni) is a perennial herbaceous plant and is part of the Asteraceae family. This family includes well-known plants such as dandelion, sunflower and chicory. The history of the culture of Stevia mainly stems from Paraguay and Brazil. Originally Stevia only grew in the northern regions of South America but its cultivation has become popular worldwide. The plant has been known for centuries by the native Guaranay-Indians for the sweet taste of its leaves. They use it, amongst other things, to make "mate" herbal tea. Stevia is often referred to as the sweetest plant of the world.

Its leaves are about 5 cm long and 2 cm wide and are planted crosswise, facing each other. In the wild, the height of the plant varies from 40 to 80 cm but when cultivated, the Stevia can grow upto 1 metre high. Stevia can be grown on relatively poor soil. The plants can be used for commercial production for 5 years, during which three to five times a year a harvest takes place of the part of the plant that is above the ground. The roots remain in place and so the plant regenerates again.

The Advantages of Stevia are:
It is a completely Natural Non-Synthetic Product.
It has got ZERO Sugar. Stevioside (the sweetener) contains absolutely no calories.
The leaves can be used in their natural state.
Thanks to its enormous sweetening power, only small quantities need to be used.
The plant is non-toxic.
The leaves as well as the pure stevioside extract can be cooked.
No aftertaste or bitterness.
Stable when heated up to 200 degrees.
Non fermentative.
Flavour enhancing.
Clinically tested and frequently used by humans without negative effect.

After Food and Drug Administration (FDA), declared a natural zero-calorie sweetener derived from the herb Stevia safe for use in foods and beverages, clearing a path for Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other companies to market it in a variety of products. The tale of Stevia is quite interesting as it shows how a natural product, albeit controversial, can be banned by the government, only later to be co-opted by the largest multi-national beverage manufacturers in the world and ushered in by the FDA.
Until recently, the FDA only allowed sweeteners made from Stevia to be sold as dietary supplements, and not as food additives—obviously contradictory, because FDA simultaneously labeled Stevia as safe and unsafe, depending on how it was sold. But now, the FDA has indicated that it has no objection to two stevia products—Truvia and PureVia—being used as food additives. Both are already sold as tabletop sweeteners.
The New York Times reported that Cargill, which is marketing Truvia from Coca-Cola, said on December 17th that it had received notification from the FDA that it had no objection to the product, calling it “generally recognized as safe (GRAS).” PepsiCo received the same letter and designation from the agency related to its sweetener, PureVia, made by Merisant, maker of the popular artificial sweetener Equal. According to the Times, both products use rebaudioside A, an extract from the stevia plant. It’s this extraction compound that alleviates the herb’s somewhat bitter aftertaste.