Stevia rebaudiana – A review on agricultural, chemical and industrial applications

Stevia rebaudiana a perennial shrub of genus Stevia and family Asteraceae is a plant, native to Paraguay while it has been grown in many countries around the world for commercial purpose. The leaf extract of stevia has a sweet taste profile resulted by a group of chemical compounds called Glycosides. Stevia extract is used as a natural sweetener which replaces the sugar or can be marketed as a non-caloric sweetener. The diterpene glycosides in the Stevia leaf extract are responsible for the sweet taste whereas the main responsible glycosides for the sweetening property are Stevioside and Rebaudiosides A. The bitter aftertaste and the natural licorice taste in Stevia is due to high Stevioside/ Rebaudiosides A ratio. Therefore, a promising sugar substitute for the market can be made with a low ratio of Stevioside/ Rebaudiosides A which can be achieved through different techniques such as enzymatic glycosylation and breeding between desirable genotypes. Stevia is used in food industry, medicine industry and by product industry (fertilizer, animal feed). In addition to its sweetening property, Stevia has numerous therapeutic effects including anti-diabetic, anti-hypertension, anti-cancer, antioxidant, antiobesity and anti-microbial effects. However, there are several controversial ideas on the safety of Stevia consumption in humans while many studies in-vitro and in-vivo have revealed no health risk in consumption of Steviol glycosides.