New research from the University of Surrey, UK according to Natural sweeteners from the stevia plant provide the same sweetness as sugar, but produce only 10 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than sugar.
In a study published in the columns of the scientific paper International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, we can read that during the research, steviol glycosides, sweet taste compounds, were extracted from the plant and their impact on the environment was examined. This is how it turns out that producing a sweetener derived from stevia has a lower environmental impact than sugar:
It requires less land and water to grow than sugar, but it guarantees the same sweet taste.
Many sugar substitutes can replace the sweetness of sugar, but they are less harmful to the environment (and the human body) than sugar. According to research, using 4 grams of stevia is equivalent to using 1,000 grams of sugar, because the natural sweetener is 250 times sweeter.
said Dr James Suckling, lead author of the study at the University of Surrey’s Center for Environment and Sustainability
Stevia is not only healthier than sugar, but also more beneficial from an environmental point of view.
At the same time, the researchers also acknowledge that more studies are needed to fully understand the effects of steviol glycosides on health.
