How Popular Is Stevia Leaf Extract, And Why Is It Used In Teas?

Are you curious about stevia leaf extract? If you are, then you have come to the right place. Stevia leaf extract is an herb you can add to your tea for a burst of nourishment. You can add stevia leaf extract to a wide variety of tea blends, in the lemon blend, ginger blend, peppermint blend, and so on. Most people add stevia leaf extract as a supplement to their tea because of its sweetening effects.

But in this article, our focus will be on the popularity of stevia leaf extract and why people choose to use stevia leaf extract over other sweeteners.

Why is stevia leaf extract popular?

Many people often ask if stevia leaf extract is popular and how easy they can get it? Stevia leaf extract is quite popular, dating to over 200 years in South America. Although today it is even more popular than you may have thought. Perhaps its more popular name, miracle sweetener, may ring a bell about what exactly we’re talking about. Stevia leaf extract is a mainstream sweetener around the world.

The world consumption of stevia between 2008 and 2011 had grown by over 400%. And between 2011 and 2012, it further grew by 125%. These statistics tell us that more and more people are beginning to see why they should consume healthier sweeteners. Stevia leaf extract is a natural herb supplement you can add to your tea blends rather than heavily processed or synthetic sweeteners.

Why is stevia leaf extract used in tea?

People use stevia leaf extract in their tea because it has many health benefits. In this section, we will be discussing the top five reasons people use stevia leaf extract in their tea.

Sweeter than sugar

Stevioside and rebaudioside are the molecules in stevia that make it sweet. Compared to regular table sugar, the stevia leaf extract is sweeter. According to some research, depending on the variety of stevia leaves, it can be about 100 to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

For this reason, people are choosing to use stevia leaf extract as it helps them consume less sugar when they want to make a tea blend sweet. And because of how incredibly sweet stevia leaf extract is, very little of it is often used.

A healthier alternative to refined sugar

Simply because you are trying not to consume as much sugar as you normally would, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy sweetened drinks and food. If you are trying to cut down on your sugar intake, an alternative sweetener you can use is stevia leaf extract. Stevia leaf extract is much healthier than sugar and sweeter than sugar.

And despite how sweet stevia leaf extract is, it comes with numerous health benefits. For example, sugar has a very high glycemic index compared to stevia leaf. So, using stevia leaf extract will help reduce the glycemic index in the food you consume, and it might help lowering blood sugar.

Zero calories

Another reason people are now using stevia leaf extract more is because it has little to no zero calories in them. Since stevia leaf extract has few calories, it plays a major role in weight management as it helps you eat fewer calories. If you used regular table sugar as a sweetener, you would consume more calories. As such, stevia leaf extract serves as a great alternative to sugar for people on a low calorie or low carbs diet.

100% natural

It is important to note that stevia leaf extract is a plant-based sweetener. In other words, it is 100% natural and contains no artificial sweetener. As the name suggests, Stevia leaf extract is extracted from the leaf of the popular garden flower asters and chrysanthemums. Despite its extraction process, stevia remains chemically unchanged, which means that you will not get less nutritional benefits when you use stevia leaf extract as a sweetener in your tea blends.

Rich in antioxidants

Also, note that stevia leaf extract is rich in several phytochemicals that make it very healthy. The antioxidant compounds in stevia leaf help eliminate free radicals in the body that can cause potential harm. For example, the stevia leaf extract is rich in the antioxidant compounds kaempferol, which reduces the risk of pancreatic cancer. Quercetin is also an antioxidant compound in stevia leaf extract that might improve your health in many ways.