Stevia FDA Approval

This business item is something that I stumbled into and thought that I should share it with you. This is the beginning of the stevia market in the USA. When I first investigated stevia, it was argued that the FDA was protecting the sugar trade. That was likely true.

I found it outrageous that a completely proven natural sweetener, clearly superior to all synthetics was been held off the market.

It was grown in England during the second war, and amazingly it holds a 5% market share in Japan. That is not small potatoes.

A really good application that I would like to see is a glucose beverage sweetened with it. Glucose is a sugar that goes directly into the bloodstream with minimal impact on other digestive processes. Its weakness is a modest sweetness compared to sugar. This would be a superior way to ingest your coke if stevia becomes the sweetness source.

In any case, it has long been understood that we are dangerously addicted to far too much sugar in our diets. Get rid of it and our sensitivity will reset at a much lower level.

If you want to ruin your day, count the number of cups of sweetened drinks that you have every day. Then estimate the spoons of sugar used. Then spoon a like amount into a cup and look at it. Would you eat it?

I did that to my coffee habit fifteen years ago and that was the end of that.



New drinks review: stevia gaining ground as the new sweetener of choice
Tue. January 20, 2009; Posted: 06:15 AM

Jan 20, 2009 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) The natural sweetener stevia has gained much attention in recent weeks after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the sweetener for use in foodstuffs. Following the approval, a number of manufacturers have introduced new stevia products, including Coca Cola and PepsiCo. As a result, the product can be expected to gain further exposure in 2009.

PepsiCo has launched the SoBe Lifewater Vitamin Enhanced Water beverage, a new line of soft drinks which contains an extract of the stevia leaf called PureVia, in the US. The extract is said to provide a sweet taste but without the calories of sugar, and is promoted on the fact that it is a natural product, unlike other available sugar substitutes. Now that stevia has official approval, PepsiCo is likely to include it in a rising number of new products.

PepsiCo rival Coca Cola has also released a new drink that contains an extract of stevia leaf in the US. Sprite Green Naturally Sweetened Soda contains a stevia leaf extract called Truvia. However, while the new SoBe line is said to contain no calories, Sprite Green is said to contain 50 calories per 8.5-ounce serving which, according to the company, is 50% fewer calories than regular soda.

Staying with the health theme, Javalution Coffee has launched the JavaFit Ready to Drink Latte, a line of functional, ready-to-drink coffee beverages, in the US. The line includes Diet Plus, Extreme, Focus and Immune varieties, which each claim to have a functional benefit. The Diet Plus variety, for example, is described as a lower calorie, lower fat, high powered blend that can help to suppress the appetite and support weight loss programs. Such products could help to reposition coffee, reversing its somewhat negative image to present it as a healthier beverage.

Meanwhile, Rubyy has launched an energy drink in the US under its company name. This is a premium style of energy drink that is presented in a distinctive black aluminum bottle. The drink is available in an orange flavor which contains the juice of various orange varieties including blood oranges, tangerines and Valencia oranges. The company claims that this provides the beverage with a superior taste. The energy drinks market is currently saturated with products, but this high-end launch could stand out from the crowd.

Over in Europe, more specifically Spain, Finland, Portugal, France, Italy, and Norway, PepsiCo is capitalizing on the popularity of mojito beverages with the launch of Pepsi Mojito. The mojito is a blend of mint and lime which has traditionally been used in alcoholic drinks. This version pairs lime and mint in a cola, in both diet and non-diet varieties, showing that the mojito flavor is moving into the soft drinks market.

Finally, a recent Japanese launch claims to feature a new type of super carrot. Ito En has introduced Ito En Kokusan 100 Yasai, a vegetable juice drink that is made with 12 types of selected vegetables. However, helping it to stand out from the crowd is the fact that the "connoisseur" carrots used in the drink are said to contain 1.5 times as much beta-carotene as normal carrots. The carrots are processed through the Natural Sweet Method, which is said to enhance the sweetness of carrots without using sugar or salt. This new drink appears to be a first in the juice market.

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