Stevia’s potential
- Stevia features in 40,000+ products, market to hit $2.5bn
- Natural and calorie-free, stevia sidesteps artificial sweetener concerns
- Fermented stevia kills pancreatic cancer cells, spares healthy ones
Stevia (E960a and E960c) is without doubt one of the most popular natural sweeteners on the market. Found in everything from sweets and soft drinks to breakfast cereals and breads, the versatile sugar alternative is used in over 40,000 food and beverage products worldwide.
This widespread popularity that’s taken it to a global market value of $1.47bn (€1.26bn). What’s more, that figure is set to shoot up to $2.5bn by 2035 (Future Market Insights).
And it’s not just manufacturers embracing stevia, consumers are increasingly seeking it too. The reason being that it’s natural, so doesn’t carry some of the negative health and environmental associations that have dogged the artificial sweetener market.
“The demand for natural, low-calorie sweeteners is being intensified by rising health awareness, increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes, and the implementation of sugar taxation policies across numerous countries,” says a spokesperson for Future Market Insights. “As a result, stevia is being adopted extensively as a plant-derived sugar substitute.”
Now, research out of Japan suggests that, not only is stevia natural and calorie-free, but it also has cancer-fighting properties.
What is Stevia?
Stevia is a natural sweetener that’s 200-400 times sweeter than sugar.
It’s extracted from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant, native to Paraguay and Brazil.
Its taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and at high concentrations some of its extracts may have an aftertaste described as licorice-like or bitter.
Does stevia contain cancer-fighting properties?
A new study, conducted by scientists at Hiroshima University, has found that when stevia extract is fermented it becomes capable of killing pancreatic cancer cells without damaging healthy kidney cells.
Previous research has suggested that stevia leaf extract could help fight cancer, but pinpointing and isolating the specific active compounds has proven challenging.
The researchers found that fermentation can alter the structure of stevia extract, leading to the creation of new bioactive metabolites. These compounds can influence biological systems.
“To enhance the pharmacological efficacy of natural plant extracts, microbial biotransformation has emerged as an effective strategy,” says Masanori Sugiyama, corresponding author on the study. “In this study, we aimed to compare LAB-fermented and non-fermented extracts to identify key compounds that enhance bioactivity, ultimately contributing to the efficacy of herbal medicine in cancer prevention and therapy.”
The science behind the study
The team fermented stevia leaf extract with plant-derived Lactobacillus plantarum SN13T strain and compared its effects on pancreatic cancer (PANC-1) cells in the lab, alongside non-cancerous human embryonic kidney cells HEK-293, to the effects of non-fermented stevia extract.
“Our findings indicate that fermented stevia leaf extract demonstrates significantly greater cytotoxicity than the non-fermented extract at equivalent concentrations, suggesting that the fermentation process enhances the bioactivity of the extract,” says Sugiyama. “Notably, fermented stevia leaf extract exhibited lower toxicity toward the HEK-293 cells, with minimal inhibition observed even at the highest concentration tested.”
Additional analyses identified chlorogenic acid methyl ester (CAME) as the active anti-cancer compound. When fermented, the concentration of chlorogenic acid in the extract dropped six-fold, indicating a microbial transformation.
“This microbial transformation was likely due to specific enzymes in the bacteria strain used,” says Narandalai Danshiitsoodol, a co-author on the study. “Our data demonstrate that chlorogenic acid methyl ester exhibits stronger toxicity to cells and pro-apoptotic effects – which encourage cell death – on PANC-1 cells compared to chlorogenic acid alone.”
The researchers are planning future studies, using mice, to better understand the effectiveness of various dosages across the body.
Changing the image of sweeteners
Whether this new research will encourage consumers to actively seek products containing stevia, remains to be seen. But it could well help to further improve the reputation of natural sweeteners.
Major food and beverage manufacturers, including PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever, have already reformulated multiple product lines to replace sugar with high-purity stevia extracts. PepsiCo, for example, uses it in Gatorade Zero.
Increasingly positive health associations mean other manufacturers could follow suit.