[Latin Name] Rhodiola Rosea

[Plant Source] China

[Specifications] Salidrosides:1%-5%

Rosavin:3% HPLC

[Appearance] Brown fine powder

[Plant Part Used] Root

[Particle size] 80 Mesh

[Loss on drying] ≤5.0%

[Heavy Metal] ≤10PPM

[Storage] Store in cool & dry area, keep away from the direct light and heat.

[Package] Packed in paper-drums and two plastic-bags inside.

[What is Rhodiola Rosea]

Rhodiola Rosea (also known as Arctic root or golden root) is a member of the family Crassulaceae, a family of plants native to the arctic regions of Eastern Siberia. Rhodiola rosea is widely distributed  in Arctic and mountainous regions throughout Europe and Asia. It grows at altitudes of 11,000 to 18,000 feet above sea level.

There are numerous animal and test tube studies showing that rhodiola has both a stimulating and a sedating effect on the central nervous system; enhance physical endurance; improves thyroid, thymus, and adrenal function; protects the nervous system, heart and liver; and has antioxidant and anticancer properties.

[Function]

1 Enhancing immunity and delaying aging;

2 Resisting radiation and tumor;

3 Regulating nervous system and metabolism, effectively limiting melancholy feeling and mood, and promoting mental status;

4 Protecting cardiovascular, dilating coronary artery,preventing coronary arteriosclerosis and arrhythmia.

I do use Stevia. I have a really sweet tooth, and have been on the lookout for a solution that helps managing my sugar intake, as I do think sugar is just as addictive and just as harmful as alcohol. I rarely drink and don’t have cravings for a “nice glass of wine”; but when it comes to sweet taste I’m losing all my self-control…

Stevia is a natural sweetener. Although in the last couple of years it has been becoming a mainstream ingredient in the European and US market too, for many it is still an unknown option when it comes to substituting sugar or artificial sweeteners.

What is Stevia?

Stevia is a plant with green leaves growing 2-4 feet tall. It is a native plant to South America; Paraguayan tribes have been using it for centuries as a sweetener and as a medicine too.

Stevia is an herb. Its Latin name is Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni. It belongs to the Composite family that includes for example lettuce and chicory. The two main compounds that are responsible for Stevia’s sweet taste are called Stevioside and Rebaudioside A that found in the plant’s leaves.

There are many different types of Stevia. The quality of the sweet flavour of Stevia depends on the species used in production and what form it is consumed in. You can find Stevia in powder and liquid forms. The most natural form that it can be consumed in is the green powder. It is made by simply grounding the dried Stevia leaves. It is about 10-15 times sweeter than sugar. The white powder form is a processed form of Stevia. Its consistence is very similar to caster sugar, but it is several times more concentrated (varies depending on brands). The liquid extract commonly contains alcohol, but alcohol free products can be purchased from different suppliers too. The processed forms (powder or liquid) can be 100-300 times sweeter than sugar.

Stevia has a certain aftertaste that takes a bit of time getting used to. Trying out different forms and brands that exist on the market is recommended to

In 2009 the US FDA approved two versions of a new sweetener developed for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Truvia and PureVia, both of which use rebiana—an extract from the South American plant Stevia. Truvia has just hit the market in Great Britain supported by gigantic public relations celebrations that would do an aspiring politician proud. Stevia, in its natural state, is the best no-calorie health-supporting natural sweetener on the planet. Here is what you should know:

1. Truvia is NOT Stevia.
2. I advise that you avoid it.

Like every plant which has long been used as a food source, Stevia is a complex of synergistic substances and compounds including numerous steviosides, rebaudiosides, and glycosides. It is this synergistic power that creates its unique benefits including its anti-oxidant properties. When the FDA declared that these two manufactured zero-calorie sweeteners were “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) it referred only to a couple of the active ingredients taken from Stevia that had been used in manufacturing including rebaudioside A—a component which imparts to the natural Stevia plant some of its sweet taste.

What takes place when you extract only one or two of a plant’s parts and throw away the rest? Does the product you make out of this affect your body the same way as the natural plant? Virtually never. In The Toxicology of Rebaudioside A: A Review, researchers at UCLA report that a living organism metabolizes stevioside compounds and rebaudioside A at different rates. This makes it impossible to assess the potential risks to the body.
Click Here to view the Toxicology of Rebaudioside from the University of California

The company behind the development of both Truvia and PureVia is Cargill. Cargill is one of the most notorious corporate polluters in America (which Conde Nast Portfolio listed as one of the “Toxic Ten.”) Coke and Cargill have conducted their own ‘research’ into the safety of Truvia on which the FDA gave them the go ahead to sell the sweetener. However, no genuinely independent studies have been done to affirm the safety of the product.

And as even the Truvia website itself states: “While rebiana is natural and comes from a plant, it is not certified or grown organically at this time. That could happen in the future, depending on consumer demand.” How absurd. How can you claim to have invented an “all-natural” zero-cal sweetener that is not only not organically grown but which no genuinely independent studies have shown to be safe to use over time?