Stevia

Intensely sweet-tasting extract from fresh or dried leaves of the stevia plant. The extract obtained in this way is 200 to 400 times sweeter than sugar. These steviol glycosides obtained in this way have been approved as a sweetener with the E number 960a-d since 2011 with specified maximum quantities. Other sweeteners are often added to products under the name stevia.

Stevia leaves and extracts are not phytopharmaceuticals, they are sweeteners.

Stevia itself is not permitted as a foodstuff in the EU with the following exceptions: Stevia leaves may be used in tea blends, as may the extract from the stevia plant as sweetener E 960.

ESCOP: not processed

HMPC: not processed

Commission E: not processed

Therapeutic use: sweetener, blood pressure and blood sugar lowering effect, valued properties: antimicrobial, vasodilator and skin-improving.

Maximum amount / day: not more than 4 milligrams per kilogram body weight E 960 a and c

1. Blaschek W (2015) Wichtl-Teedrogens and phytopharmaceuticals. A handbook for practice. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Munich. S 626-627
2. https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/lebensmittel/gesund-ernaehren/stevia-zuckerfreie-suesse-mit-fraglichem-natuerlichem-image-51999
3. https://www.lebensmittelklarheit.de/informationen/steviolglycoside-suessstoffe-aus-der-stevia-pflanze