Stevia Benefits: What the Evidence Really Shows

Many people look up stevia benefits before swapping sugar in their tea or coffee. This article explains the benefits backed by evidence, the ones that are still uncertain, and how to get the real benefit from stevia.

1. Sweetness With Almost No Calories

Steviol glycosides are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so a tiny amount sweetens a cup and adds almost no calories. The World Health Organization advises keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy, and ideally below 5%, which is about 25 g or 6 teaspoons a day.^[1] So if you drink several sweetened cups of karak or coffee a day, swapping sugar for stevia cuts your sugar intake noticeably.

2. No Rise in Blood Sugar

In a study in adults, a stevia-sweetened preload before a meal led to lower glucose and insulin levels after eating than a sugar-sweetened one.^[2] As a result, stevia suits people watching their blood sugar, as long as the label shows no added sugar or dextrose. Read more in stevia for diabetics.

3. Kinder to Your Teeth Than Sugar

Sugar feeds the bacteria that cause tooth decay, which is why the WHO links lower sugar intake with less decay.^[1] Stevia, however, is not fermented in the mouth in the same way, so replacing sugar with it helps protect teeth, especially in drinks you have several times a day.

4. Blood Pressure: Limited Results

Some older studies found lower blood pressure in people with hypertension who took high doses of stevioside for a long time. However, the effect was not seen in healthy people, and a review of trials found no clear difference compared with placebo.^[3] In short, stevia is not a blood pressure treatment and does not replace medication.

What Is Not Proven Yet?

• Weight loss on its own: the WHO advises against relying on non-sugar sweeteners for weight control, because they showed no long-term benefit for body fat.^[4]
• Treating disease: stevia is a sweetener, not a medicine. Claims that it treats diabetes or blood pressure are overstated.
• “Detox” or “fat burning”: there is no scientific evidence for this.

Is It Worth It? A Quick Comparison

	White sugar	Stevia sweetener
Calories	About 4 kcal per gram	Almost zero
Blood sugar	Raises it	Does not raise it
Teeth	Feeds decay bacteria	Not fermented the same way
Safety	Advised to limit	Safe within the ADI[5]

How to Actually Get the Benefits of Stevia

• Use it instead of sugar in the drinks you have every day, such as karak, coffee and tea.
• Lower the sweetness gradually; your palate adjusts to less sweetness within weeks.
• Choose a purified extract such as Reb-M and read the other ingredients. See how to spot real stevia.
• Do not treat it as a licence to eat more sweets.

At Lucarise, many of our drinks come with a separate stevia Reb-M sachet, so you decide how sweet your cup is, or skip it.

This article is general information and does not replace advice from your doctor.

Quick questions

References

1. World Health Organization (2015). WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children. www.who.int
2. Anton SD, Martin CK, Han H, et al. (2010). Effects of stevia, aspartame, and sucrose on food intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels. Appetite 55(1):37–43. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
3. Marcinek K, Krejpcio Z (2016). Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni: health promoting properties and therapeutic applications. Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety 11:3–8. doi.org
4. World Health Organization (2023). WHO advises not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control in newly released guideline. www.who.int
5. EFSA Panel on Food Additives (2010). Scientific Opinion on the safety of steviol glycosides for the proposed uses as a food additive. EFSA Journal 8(4):1537. doi.org

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