Karnataka - Mangalore   

Agro industry yet to try stevia as alternative to sugar

By Raviprasad Kamila

MANGALORE, MAY 11. If stevia (Stevia reboudiana), a calorie-less sweet plant, is used by certain industries involved in manufacturing low-calorie products, it will emerge as a major subsidiary crop, according to sources in the agriculture business industry.

After a few farmers in Dakshina Kannada and some other districts started cultivating the crop on an experimental basis a year ago, this sweet plant has caught the attention of other farmers and some drug manufacturing industries, according to sources.

Stevia resembles the "tulsi" plant and grows fast. It is said to be of South American origin.

Sources say that stevia is the best alternative to sugar. One kg of stevia powder is equivalent to 25 kg of sugar, they say.

An Ayurvedic doctor near Vitla in Dakshina Kannada recently released a stevia drink, which is one of the products prepared by him using the plant. If industrial units manufacturing toothpaste and syrup use stevia powder as an alternative to sugar, the demand for it will shoot up, says Vishwaprasad of Sediyapu Agro Sales, Puttur.

He told that there were no bacteria in stevia. If it was used in the manufacture of toothpaste, the latter's quality would improve as fermentation could be prevented, he said.

Mr. Vishwaprasad said stevia could be used in the preparation of syrup. He had learnt that a drug company which conducted a clinical trial on the use of stevia in its products in Bangalore had found that stevia could be used as an alternative to sugar, he said.

Mr. Vishwaprasad's firm had got biscuits made by a private factory last year using stevia on an experimental basis. When stevia and sugar were blended in equal proportion, the taste of the biscuits did not change. But when only stevia powder was used, the biscuits tasted somewhat bitter. However, the experiment revealed that the use of sugar could be reduced by opting for stevia powder.

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