Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. plan to launch new soft drinks sweetened with the plant stevia


Wed, January 14, 2009
Nature's sweetener
Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. plan to launch new soft drinks sweetened with the plant stevia
By SUSIE MAH, SUN MEDIA


WHAT IS STEVIA?

- Part of the sunflower family, stevia is native to tropical and subtropical South America and Central America. It was used by Guarani tribes of Paraguay and Brazil for hundreds of years as a sweetener, and also as a treatment for heartburn and stomach ailments.

- Since the early 1970s, Japan has led the way in cultivating and using stevia as a replacement for artificial sweeteners such as cyclamate and saccharin, which are suspected carcinogens.

Read more: http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2009/01/14/8017686-sun.html