The sugar substitute revolution never stops. Over a century-long period, artificial sugar substitutes have gone through six iterations and have been gradually replaced by natural sugar substitutes. The recent "aspartame" scandal has accelerated the pace of artificial sugar substitutes being replaced.

As an old star raw material for natural sugar substitutes, the demand for stevia continues to grow. According to Innova Market Insights data, in the past 10 years (2011-2021), the global compound annual growth rate of new products containing stevia has been 21.9%. New product launches are concentrated in North America, Asia and Western Europe. Beverages are still the main category for new stevia product launches. In addition, sports nutrition, dairy products, snacks and candies have also seen significant growth, and new categories such as desserts, ice cream and baked products have also begun to be gradually involved.

Stevia has attracted much attention in the food and beverage industry due to their natural nature and almost zero caloric value, but their bitter taste and undesirable aftertaste are a major obstacle to their application. Therefore, improving taste issues and physical and chemical properties (such as purity and solubility) is the research direction of the next generation of stevia.

The third generation of natural zero-calorie healthy sugar source

Steviol glycosides are a type of sweet substance extracted from stevia and are known as the world's "third generation natural zero-calorie healthy sugar source". Stevia is a small perennial shrub in the Asteraceae family that is native to Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, where the leaves have been used medicinally and to sweeten beverages such as yerba mate for centuries. Botanist Moises Santiago Bertoni first introduced stevia to other parts of the world in 1887, and to date, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Israel, Australia, Kenya, the United States and Europe Countries are commercially growing stevia. China is the world's largest stevia exporter, accounting for 80% of the world's output.

In 1931, two French chemists Bridel and Lavielle isolated steviol glycosides from stevia. Globally, more than 40 types of steviol glycosides have been identified, and there are mainly 13 types of steviol glycosides allowed for use in China. Generally, the top three most abundant steviol glycosides in stevia are stevioside (4-13% w/w total dry weight), Rebaudioside A (2-4% w/w total dry weight) and Rebaudioside C (1-2% w/w total dry weight), Rebaudioside D and Rebaudioside M are present in very small amounts in Stevia (approximately 0.4-0.5% w/w total dry weight), Reb D and Reb M are gradually attracting attention because of their good taste, and they are also the main categories of next-generation steviol glycosides.

Since the content of Reb D and Reb M in stevia is very small, it is difficult to achieve commercial production. Scientists are constantly trying various means to increase the production of Red D and Reb M. There are currently three different production technologies, including breeding, biotransformation and fermentation. The enzymes or microorganisms used in bioconversion and fermentation methods are removed from the final product, leaving purified steviol glycosides.

In the kitchen, stevia is an option when you want to add some sweetness. Not only does it help you reduce sugar intake, it also gives you a refreshing taste. Whether you are cooking, making pastries, or making drinks, stevia is an excellent choice.

Consumers are now paying more attention to healthy eating. As consumers' health awareness continues to increase and national/regional sugar control policies continue to advance, the demand for sugar reduction is rising year by year. Although consumers have a strong awareness of reducing the intake of sugar, they do not want to sacrifice sweetness, so sugar substitutes with low/zero calories, not causing blood sugar to rise but sweetening food have become consumers’ healthy pursuit. Consumers demand for sugar substitutes has changed from "sweetening" to "healthy", which has also led to the launch and iteration of more natural sweeteners. At present, the types of natural sweeteners are relatively concentrated. Looking at the global market, the most commonly used ones are steviol glycosides, mogrosides, sugar alcohols (such as erythritol), rare sugars (such as allulose, tagatose) and sweet proteins (such as thaumatin).