Stevia natural sweetener goes European
Professor Jan Geuns' story is largely that of Stevia rebaudiana. The story begins in 1993 with Geuns' initial study into the biosynthetic and sweetening properties of this remarkable plant. Recently the EU authorised steviolglycosides, a product made from stevia leaves, for use as a food additive – a breakthrough with the potential to transform how we sweeten our food.
Professor Jan Geuns with his stevia plants | © KU Leuven - Rob Stevens
Stevia comes from the border region between Paraguay and Brazil, but has begun to be cultivated in many other places. It is a very powerful sweetener: pure stevia extract can be up to 300 times sweeter than the familiar sugar cube. But stevia's real importance lies in its potential as a natural sweetener with all of the sweetness of sugar and none of its downsides:
"We are unhealthy eaters. Diet-related diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension are very common today. There are countries where as much as 5 to 10 per cent of the population has diabetes. In Europe, there are about 55 million diabetics between the ages of 20 and 79 years. A lack of exercise, combined with too much fat, salt, flavour enhancers and added sugars, is a key factor in this," says Professor Geuns.
"I've mainly focused on combating added sugars. Often you don’t even know you're eating sugar. Recently my wife bought a pack of cubed bacon. To her astonishment, sugar was among the additives listed on the package's label. Or people think their sugar-free cola has no sugar but they don't realise that the added colour is actually derived from caramelised sugar. A can of regular cola contains 35 grams of sugar. If you know that the average person requires 50 grams of sugar per day, and that you get more than that amount from fruit and vegetables in a balanced diet, then you quickly see that there is a problem here. One solution might be to find a replacement for sugar with the same function but without all the side effects; and I have not even touched on sugar's addictive and carcinogenic elements. Stevia has none of sugar's side effects and it's sweeter."
Difficult path to success
"The effect of stevia and steviolglycosides (the sweetener derived from the plant. - Ed.) has long been known. In some countries, such as Japan, it has been used in ordinary food production for years. But in Europe, progress has been slow. On 11 November, the EU certified steviolglycosides, one of the products extracted from stevia leaves, for use as a food additive. As of 2 December, products sweetened with steviolglycosides will be allowed at market. This is a real breakthrough."
"It has taken so long because there is a lot of money on the line, and with that comes extremely powerful opponents. That was apparent in the decision-making bodies asked to approve steviolglycosides for use in the food chain. I won't go into detail, but the game was not always played fairly. Conflicts of interest, deliberate distortion of facts, figurative knives in the back – it was all part of the process."
"Stevia itself is not certified because the EU classifies it as a 'novel food'. Getting stevia approved will be a very difficult process because the novel food legislation is based on a logic of negative evidence, which is scientifically impossible to prove. It is impossible to prove that stevia has no adverse effects. One can only give certain parameters and demonstrate that a particular use has no adverse effects. Opening a novel food dossier costs a lot of money, too; 13 million euros on average. The research associated with it is very expensive. That is why smaller businesses have such a difficult time bringing new food components to the market: they simply can't afford the required preliminary research, and they are often forced to sell themselves to a larger company. But I'm pretty stubborn, and if I believe in something, I keep moving forward. And now we've finally reached an important step in the certification process."
Chocolate and beer
"The final goal has certainly not yet been achieved. The EU's decision stipulates a maximum daily intake which could be quite a bit higher than it is. That is something I am definitely committed to changing. I'm also still very active in Eustas, the European Stevia Association, which is an independent body that coordinates research on stevia and disseminates information to the general public. "
"I won't be getting rich off steviolglycosides. The university does have a patent covering the beneficial effects of stevioside against atherosclerosis, and hopefully my lab will reap some rewards from that. After gaining European approval, a number of companies, especially SME's, have shown interest in doing something with stevia. A chocolate sweetened with stevia will go on sale in early December. A sugar-free beer and sugar-free lemonade, with no calories and no salt, will follow shortly. It also gives me great satisfaction to be able to say that a number of major players in the food industry are interested in stevia, including Coca Cola and Cargill. "
"With its medical potential and its absence of side effects, stevia’s story sounds almost too good to be true. A lot of people, including myself, have worked extremely hard to develop stevia's scientific possibilities in the face of sometimes vicious criticism. But we have made a big step here. I am a happy man."
