Not just a sweet leaf: Stevia extracts may help tackle obesity

By Niamh Michail

- Last updated on GMT

© iStock/sebastianosecondi
© iStock/sebastianosecondi

Related tags Nutrition Obesity Snack functional beverage beverage

Stevia’s health benefits go beyond sugar reduction – it could also be a natural alternative for treating metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, say researchers.

Publishing their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medicinal Food​, the Mexican researchers reviewed both in vitro​ and in vivo​ studies which looked at the beneficial effects reported for steviol compounds – aqueous and alcoholic stevia extracts – derived from the leaves, flowers and roots of the stevia plant.

These studies analysed the plant's anti-obesity, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertensive and anti-hyperlipidemic effects, all of which make it interesting to tackle the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. This is characterised by factors such as abdominal obesity, inflammation and diabetes, that are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

While there are several chemically synthesized pharmaceuticals for treating these diseases, many of them have secondary undesirable effects such as lactic acidosis, metallic taste, and vitamin B12 deficiency, according to the reviewers from the from the Autonomous University of Yucatan.

Therefore, there is a demand for new natural-based medicinal compounds [and] Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni [is] a potential source for these compounds​,” they write, particularly due to its absence of toxicity and reputation as an edible plant worldwide.

Cardiovascular risk factors are on the rise. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the number of people suffering diabetes alone rose from 30 million globally in 1995 to 347 million in 2014. By 2030 it predicts this number will rise to 366 million.

It also estimates that worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980.

Currently, stevia is commercially cultivated to extract its sweeteners but it also contains other compounds, such as phytochemicals, that provide beneficial properties to health.

Theses include: diterpenes, labdabos, triterpenes, stigmasterol, tannins, ascorbic acid, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids, b-carotene, chromium, cobalt, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, thiamine, tin, zinc, apigenin, austroinilina, avicularin, b-sitosterol, caffeic acid, campesterol, caryophyllene, centaureidin, chlorogenic acid, chlorophyll, kaempferol, luteolin and quercetin.

The authors identify three separates rat or mice studies in which orally administered stevia for a period of between three and nine weeks led to a weight reduction.

One 2015 study​ looking for sucrose replacement in beverages found that that satiety levels of SR, aspartame, and saccharose were similar among each other but stevia reduced the glucose and postprandial insulin levels, write the authors.

Other human and animal studies identified stevia as beneficial in lowering blood pressure. For instance, one study​, hypertensive patients were given 250 mg of steviosides for one year. “Results indicate that their systolic and diastolic APs decreased after 3 months of starting the treatment without any negative effect on the biochemical parameters.”

The authors conclude that more research is needed to determine the diverse mechanisms of action of stevia-based treatments.

Source: Journal of Medicinal Food

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni: A Natural Alternative for Treating Diseases Associated with Metabolic Syndrome”

Published online ahead of print, 9 August  2017

Authors: Areli Carrera-Lanestosa and Maira Segura-Campos

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1 comment

Good news but no silver bullet

Posted by Vic Cherikoff B.App.Sc.,

Here's more proof that we need to eat more wild and near-wild foods for our ideal nutrition. The problem is that BigPharma is so obsessed with a reductionist paradigm. By this I mean they want a silver bullet that can be patented and sold as a drug to 'cure' metabolic syndrome or whatever.

The reality is more palatable (if you'll pardon the pun). My work with the wild foods of the world's longest living culture (that of the 65,000 year old Australian Aborigines) suggests that a diet up to 10 times the variety and of a far higher quality than we can expect from modern foods is the silver arsenal that can combat our rising ill-health.

To this end, a freeze-dried mixture of a dozen indigenous Australian wild foods combined with 13 carefully selected, near-wild ingredients and known as L.I.F.E. (Lyophilized Indigenous Food Essentials) was prepared and subjectively tested as a preventative against obesity, diabetes, hypertension, gout, cardiovascular diseases and more of the ailments of nutrition so prevalent today.

Anecdotally, the results suggest that LIFE can normalize blood pressure in several weeks; control symptoms of gout and reduce the incidence and severity of attacks; reduce the taste drive for micro-nutrients which pushes us to forage for them and to ingest empty calories in the process; reduce carbohydrate cravings which means less bad sugars (fructose and sucrose) in the diet; and it may improve energy levels, both physical and mental by improving circulation efficiency. And a whole lot more.

The news about stevia is definitely good but it should also be part of a strategy to regularly consume a lot more wild foods so get foraging, researching and cooking. As a target, Aborigines in Australia's tropical Top End had access to over 650 different foods annually. Most city dwellers today might get to eat one tenth to a quarter of this number. Country folk might survive on 40 - 60 different foods a year.

And the nutritional quality ... well that's another story.

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