Comparison of the Effect on Postpandrial Capillary Blood Glucose Between Oral Stevioside Versus Saccharin in Healthy Adults.

State of the art: Excessive intake of calories and sugar diets cause weight gain and impaired glucose tolerance in healthy subjects (1). These diets raise postpandrial blood glucose and insulin levels and cause metabolic and hormonal changes that induce feelings of hunger and fat deposition. These diets are also associated with diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer (2).

The origin of the artificial sweeteners dates back to 1879 with the accidental discovery of saccharin. France in 1902 and the United States in 1912 officially banned its use because of their lack of nutritional value. But Europe allowed the use of saccharin during sugar rationing in the world wars (3). In the past three decades has increased the consumption of these sweeteners as it has allowed many people suffering from obesity and / or diabetes restore some degree of palatability to foods (4).

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Bertoni), common name "sweet herb of Paraguay" is a plant native to Paraguay and Brazil, known by Indians as Ka'a-he'e (sweet grass). Its leaves were used since pre-Columbian times for medicinal purposes and as a sweetener because of its sweet taste (5). Japan and Brazil have more than 20 years using it as a natural sweetener. The main sweet component of Stevia is the Stevioside, a glycoside 300 times sweeter than sucrose (7).

The benefits of stevia as a dietary supplement in humans are many: it is stable, non-caloric and offers a good dental health. In addition, no significant adverse effects have occurred from their use (6).

There have been several studies that compare the decline in blood glucose and insulin levels of Stevia versus many sweeteners. It has been administered to healthy and diabetic rats (8), healthy humans (9,10), obese (10) and diabetic (11).