A new research has discovered that the sweet, stevia plants molecules retain their characteristics through the different stages of processing and in final stevia sweetener end product.
Conducted at the University of Bonn in Germany, the research could successfully support stevia’s naturality by finding unchanged presence of all the nine steviol glycoside molecules in the dried stevia leaf.
This was in line with the specifications set by the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) administered Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
University of Bonn scientist Dr. Ursula Wölwer-Rieck, who is also a board member of the European Stevia Association (EUSTAS) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Stevia Institute, carried out the research.
Wölwer-Rieck observed the nine steviol glycoside molecules to be intact in the dried stevia leaf, throughout its commercial extraction and purification stages, and also in the final processed product.
Wölwer-Rieck said: "Finding the same nine steviol glycoside molecules unchanged in the stevia leaf, the water extract and in the final product confirms that the commercial extraction and purification process of high purity stevia leaf extract does not alter the sweet steviol glycoside molecules in the leaf.
"Showing that it is unchanged is important in this whole naturality debate because there are people who still call into question the naturality of high purity stevia leaf extract."
Three separate batches of stevia leaf were looked at in the research, with each of them going through from the commercial production to the final product stage. Each of them yielded 95% pure extract of stevia leaf, another requirement set by JECFA.
The study samples for the research were provided by PureCircle. The Malaysian based global stevia producer, last month, announced to build a new stevia processing plant in Kuala Lumpur at an investment of $42m.
