Also makes a nice garden or indoor plant
By UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
New research from the University of Surrey suggests that natural
sweeteners derived from stevia can offer the same level of sweetness as sugar
while producing as little as 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions.
Stevia-based sweeteners are natural sweeteners extracted
from the stevia plant, known for their high sweetness levels
with little to no calories.
A Life Cycle Assessment carried out by researchers on steviol glycosides extracted from stevia revealed that the production of this sweetener has a lower environmental impact in various areas when compared to sugar.
The assessment highlighted that the use of stevia could
potentially reduce land use and water consumption, while still providing the
same level of sweetness as sugar.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I spotted (and bought) a stevia plant in Carpenter Farm's greenhouse and added it to my kitchen garden. The leaves certainly are sweet and actually made a nice addition to fresh garden salads. I've taken it indoors along with many of my other herbs to see if it can survive the winter and give me another summer of sweet additions to salads. Would welcome suggestions for other ways to use it. - Will Collette
Many non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), like steviol glycosides, can reproduce the taste of sugar, but without the associated health risks, such as tooth decay, obesity, or diabetes.
They can do
this because they are many times sweeter than sugar. For example, 4g of steviol
glycosides provides the sweetness equivalent of 1,000g sugar, because it is
perceived to be 250 times sweeter.
Dr. James Suckling, the lead author of the
study working in the University of Surrey’s Centre for Environment and
Sustainability, said: “The use of steviol glycosides and similar natural
products could be sweet news for the health of our planet. However, our study
readily admits that much more work needs to be done to understand the health
impacts of steviol glycosides and other non-nutritive sweeteners when consumed
as part of a wider diet.”
Reference: “Environmental life cycle
assessment of production of the high intensity sweetener steviol glycosides
from Stevia rebaudiana leaf grown in Europe: The SWEET
project” by J. Suckling, S. Morse, R. Murphy, S. Astley, J. C. G. Halford, J.
A. Harrold, A. Le-Bail, E. Koukouna, H. Musinovic, J. Perret, A. Raben, M. Roe,
J. Scholten, C. Scott, C. Stamatis and C. Westbroek, 14 January 2023, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
DOI: 10.1007/s11367-022-02127-9