Stevia

From Translingual Stevia.

Full definition of stevia

(plural stevias)

Any of the sweet herbs of genus Stevia, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America and western North America.

2006, Frances Sizer, Ellie Whitney, Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, 10th Edition, page 49,A naturally sweet herb called stevia is gaining in popularity as a sugar substitute, especially in beverages. Food additives must provide evidence of their safety and effectiveness before receiving FDA approval, and stevia lacks this approval for use as a sweetener because so little is known about its effects on human health, save that it can be absorbed by the human digestive tract.
2010, Rita Girouard Mertig, What Nurses Know...Diabetes, page 18,Another natural sweetener comes from the stevia plant. In December 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave a â€œgenerally recognized as safeâ€ status to Truvia and PureVia, both of which are wholly derived from the stevia plant and have no calories.
2010, Sam Graci, The Food Connection: The Right Food at the Right Time, page 139,My absolute preference for a sweetener is the herb steviaâ€”not the white crystalline extract, but the chopped green leaves. Stevia has no calories and does not cause any insulin response.

A sweetener, many times sweeter than an equal amount of sugar, extracted from , that can be substituted for sugar for some purposes.

2003, M. Sara Rosenthal, The Natural Woman's Guide to Living with the Complications of Diabetes, page 42,Stevia is a natural, non-fattening sweetener that is 30 to 100 times sweeter than sugar and without any of the aftertaste that is common in many sugar substitutes.
2008, Jack Staub, 75 Exceptional Herbs for Your Garden, page 563,Around 1970, Japan approved stevia as a sweetener and flavor enhancer, and, in the last 35 years of Japanese employment, not a single case of toxic or deleterious effect has been brought to light.
2011, Mary D Martino, Natural Health: Alternatives and Prevention of Disease, page 365,Stevia is made from the leaves of a small shrub found largely in South America and China, and has been used by indigenous peoples for hundreds of years. It is considered one of the healthiest sweeteners available, and often used as a tonic for healing wounds.

The distinction between the herb and sweetener senses is often blurred.