Stevia: reviews, history and photos of honey grass

Amongst diabetics and those wishing to lose weight, stevia is very popular. Reviews about this incredible plant are most often ecstatic and grateful. The leaves of this herb are a full-fledged substitute for sugars. Unlike chemical analogs, it is completely safe for health, and also has a number of properties beneficial to the body.

Stevia: photos, history and alternatives

Homeland of unique honey grass - South America. It was known even at the time of the Mayan civilization. The natives of Paraguay and Brazil pass word by mouth to the legend according to which stevia appeared on the earth (reviews about this plant are invariably positive for everyone who grows it or uses it as a sweetener). It says that the honey grass was named after a girl who was rewarded for wisdom, purity and patience by giving her a magic herb. The conquistadors, observing the Indians, noted that they drink mate with the leaves of stevia as a medicinal drink.

In the early twentieth century, French scientists isolated from this plant extract. The substance was called stevioside. It turned out that it is many times sweeter than sugar and does not cause absolutely no side effects. Therefore, wishing to lose weight all over the world was recommended stevia - reviews about her first volunteers were enthusiastic.

In the Soviet Union, the plant was thoroughly studied immediately after it was imported into the country by Academician Vavilov. The studies confirmed the list of medicinal properties that the Crimean stevia possesses: it increases the metabolic rate, delays the aging process, helps to withstand the harmful effects of the environment. But the most important plus of this plant, of course, is its sweet taste. When people forced to follow a diet and exhausted by the lack of sugar in the diet, learn that there is a harmless for health substitute, their joy is no limit. After all, cyclamate and aspartame, which are used for dieting diabetics, have a number of side effects. They, unfortunately, can not be used constantly without a threat to health.

Stevia: reviews of the plant

Sweeteners based on the extract of this plant are constantly praised by people suffering from diabetes and obesity. The absence of contraindications for stevioside at the moment is confirmed by many scientists around the world. The World Health Organization joined the research in 2006 and also gave a positive conclusion. Non-carcinogenicity (unlike some other sugar substitutes) is very important for people who care about their body.

Stevioside is a promising, inexpensive and effective sweetener. Apply the magic plant as a decoction of leaves, and in the form of a dry extract. According to people who actively include products from stevia in dishes, dried grass can give an unpleasant cloying aftertaste. But stevioside in tablets is more universal. It is used even as a powder for powdering. If you put a little of this substance, you can minimize the specific taste or eventually get used to it.