Yunyi Yang,1 Yang Liu,2 Mengyue Xu,1,3 Jiyang Cai,1 Qing Li,1 Zhili Wan,1,4,* and Xiaoquan Yang1 1 Laboratory of Food Proteins and Colloids, School of Food Science and Engineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Natural Products and Product Safety, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China 2 College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China 3 Laboratory of Physics and Physical Chemistry of Foods, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6708WG Wageningen, The Netherlands 4 Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovation of Food Nutrition and Human Health (111 Center), Guangzhou 510640, China

Recently, increased demand for low-calorie products and foods with alternative sweeteners has gained special attention. In the present study, the suitability of stevioside and stevia leaf extract as a sweetener in common beverages such as lemon juice, tea and coffee was investigated. Comparison of stevioside and stevia leaf extract with sucrose in terms of sweetness, sweet and bitter aftertastes were determined in water and the beverages. The relative sweetness of pure stevioside was found 200 times compared to sucrose in water. Pure stevioside and stevia leaf extracts were used as alternative sweetening agents in lemon juice, tea and coffee formulations. In lemon juice, 80 and 60% sugar was replaced by pure stevioside and stevia leaf extract successfully. In tea and coffee, 50 % and 75% of replacement of sugar using pure stevioside was found to be acceptable whereas with leaf powder 75% and 50 % replacement was found to be acceptable, respectively.

Maternal obesity poses a signi*cant threat to the metabolic pro*les of o-spring. Microorganisms acquired from the mother early in life critically a-ect the host’s metabolic functions. Natural non-nutritive sweeteners, particularly stevioside (STV), play a crucial role in reducing obesity and a-ecting gut microbiota composition. Based on this, we hypothesized that maternal STV supplementation could improve the health of mothers and o-spring by altering their gut microbiota. Our study found that maternal STV supplementation reduced obesity during pregnancy, decreased abnormal lipid accumulation in o-spring mice caused by maternal obesity, and modi*ed the gut microbiota of both dams and o-spring, notably increasing the abundance of Lactobacillus apodemi (L. apodemi). Co-housing and fecal microbiota transplant experiments con*rmed that gut microbiota mediated the e-ects of STV on metabolic disorders. Furthermore, treatment with L. apodemi alone replicated the bene*cial e-ects of STV, which were associated with increased thermogenesis. In summary, maternal STV supplementation could alleviate lipid metabolic disorders in o-spring by enhancing L. apodemi levels and promoting thermogenic activity, potentially involving changes in bile acid metabolism pathways.

Objective: An excessive buildup of adipose tissue is a defining feature of overnutrition, and a significant fraction of the world’s population suffers from obesity. Overnutrition is associated with the deterioration of mitochondrial functions in the brain in the case of obesity. In this study, we evaluated the effects of stevioside (ST) which is a calorie-free, naturally occurring herbal sweetener made from Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) on the oxidant-antioxidant balance in the brain in cases of overnutrition. Accordingly, the effects of ST consumption on the oxidant-antioxidant balance in the brain was evaluated and determined in a case study of overfeeding adult zebrafish for 15 days.

Stevia rebaudiana belongs to the Asteraceae family, originated from northeastern Paraguay and is now grown globally. Its intense sweetness, 250-300 times that of sucrose, comes from steviol glycosides used as non-caloric sweeteners. Stevia offers several health benefits, including weight loss and the treatment of noncommunicable diseases like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. The cultivation and production of stevia are rapidly expanding worldwide, due to the aforementioned positive technological and health effects. Stevia offers numerous therapeutic benefits, such as antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxi dant, antidiarrheal, diuretic, and immunomodulatory effects. The leaves of Stevia rebaudiana produces zero calorie ent-kaurene diterpene glycosides and rebaudiosides. These compounds serve as non-nutritive, highly potent sweeteners and alternatives to sucrose, This review article focus on various aspects of stevia, including its nutritional and phytochemical composition, its roles in managing diabetes, and its antioxidant, anti inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. It also explores how steviol glycosides influence tumor functions the pharmaceutical significance of stevia, its metabolism in the human body, its industrial applications in agriculture, food, and pharmaceuticals, as well as potential future developments, Additionally, it includes detailed information on the phytochemical components present, such as minerals, vitamins, amino acids and the application of stevia as an ingredient in various food products.

In order to investigate the solubility of Stevioside and Rebaudioside A in different solvents (ethanol, water, ethanol:water 30:70 and ethanol:water 70:30), supersaturated solutions of pre-crystalized steviol glycosides were maintained at different temperatures (from 5 °C to 50 °C) to reach equilibrium. Under these conditions significant differences were found in the extent of solubility. Rebaudioside A was poorly soluble in ethanol and water, and Stevioside was poorly soluble in water. Solvent mixtures more effectively promoted solubilisation, and a significant effect of temperature on solubility was observed. The two steviol glycosides showed higher solubilities and this behavior was promoted by the presence of the other sweetener. The polarity indices of the solvents were determined, and helped to explain the observed behavior. Several solute-solvent and solute-solute interactions can occur, along with the incidence of a strong affinity between solvents. The obtained results are in accordance with technological applications of ethanol, water and their binary mixtures for Stevioside and Rebaudioside A separations.

Prepared by the Seventy-seventh meeting of the Joint FAO/WНО Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)

To combat the rise in caloric overconsumption, new ways of satisfying sweet desires must reduce caloric intake without sacri cing palatability. Rare sugars and steviol glycosides are emerging classes of naturally occurring alternative sweeteners. They have gained interest for industrial production due to their low-calorie content, desirable $avor, and notable bioactivity for potential broader applications. Microbial production offers unique bene ts to ef ciently produce rare sugars and steviol glycosides. Particularly, the model organism Escherichia coli is capable of irreversible rare sugar production using phosphorylation–dephosphorylation chemistry using its native components. Saccharyomyces cerevisiae, another model organism, has emerged as an alternative production platform for producing various steviol glycosides. Herein, we summarize the chemical and enzymatic production pathways that establish microbial sweetener production.