New sweetener to hit market hungry for alternatives

By Sarah Hills
6/24/2008
www.foodnavigator-usa.com

An ingredients company has developed a new natural sweetener that it claims tastes like cane sugar and is expected to rival products such as stevia.

Natur Research Ingredients has announced plans for Cweet (3000x) Natural Intense Sweetener, which it says is 3,000 times sweeter by weight than sucrose, to be available by 2010.

However, in the US, this will depend on approval for GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status which the company is preparing to submit to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Cweet is derived from brazzein, a sweet fruit found in West Africa. It is similar to sucrose and is expected to have widespread use in products including chewing gum, sports drinks and candy, according to Loren Miles, CEO of Natur Research Ingredients, which is based in Los Angeles.

He said: "We think that the market is hungry for sweetener alternatives - that is the consistent message we have been receiving from food and beverage manufacturers globally.
"Our natural intense sweetener will give the food and beverage manufacturer an alternative to the other sweeteners out there, such as sucralose, aspartame, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), stevia and Ace-K.

"In the artificial high intense sweetener category you have a lot of aspartame blended with Ace-K in order to achieve a sucrose-like blend. We are pretty confident that will not be necessary with our ingredient.

"We feel they have the potential of being worldwide and a very serious player in the high intense sweetener category."

Natur Research Ingredients, a privately held concern, obtained the exclusive worldwide license in 2007 from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to manufacture and distribute Cweet Natural Intense Sweetener.

The new product follows on from Cweet (1,000x), launched in November, which is 1,000 times sweeter than cane sugar by weight. This is currently going through the GRAS process. It is expected to be commercially available in 2009 and samples are being sent out to food and beverage manufacturer to test the product.

Cweet 3000 is expected to be more desirable in beverage applications than Cweet 1000.
Natur Research is currently in discussions with global food and beverage brands for the exclusive rights to use Cweet within their product category for the first 2-years from availability.

It is also exploring strategic partnerships with global food raw material manufacturers and distributors to establish a supportive infrastructure for supply and demand for Cweet worldwide.

Stevia

Stevia is also a natural sweetener but under current US regulations it cannot be sold as a sweetener, although it has approval on the US market as a dietary supplement.

This month Arizona-based Wisdom Natural Brands announced it had
self-affirmed its version of stevia - Sweet Leaf - as being GRAS and the ingredient would be available in a soda or food product by the year's end.

In the meantime it would be available at retail level as a table-top sweetener that would be labeled as such and not a dietary supplement.

Coca-Cola and Cargill also recently published science backing their ingredient Truvia, which is derived from stevia. They have yet to bring it to market but a launch looks imminent.
Natur Research said its GRAS strategy was for both self-affirmed and full GRAS status.

Sweetener market

A recent report by Freedonia revealed that the US sweetener market alone is poised to increase 4 percent per year at present, to reach over $1bn in 2010.

Low-calorie sweeteners are used to meet consumers' desire for sweet treats whilst delivering less calories. This strategy has become especially important given the food industry's efforts to help curb the current obesity crisis and the market is also increasingly seeking 'natural' foods.

Natur Research Ingredients said market trends show that mass food and beverage manufacturers are seeking to reduce or replace sugar and HFCS usage. It claims that Cweet (3000x) will address the global market demand for a natural intense sweetener with a sucrose-like taste profile, while reducing caloric, glycemic loads and remaining cost effective.

Miles added: "We think it is most important that it has a sucrose-like profile because regardless of any health benefit, if it doesn't, you are going to have a hard time selling it to the consumer."

Its sister company Natur Research Foods already manufactures and distributes low intensity all-natural sweeteners for both the commercial and consumer sectors.

Soft drink makers all seeking natural sweeteners

Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:34pm BST

NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - The top three U.S. soft-drink makers, Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), are all working to develop a natural low-calorie sweetener aimed at health-conscious consumers.

"We all have scientists working right now to blend new combinations of these new top-secret (that we all know about) sweeteners that are out there", said Randy Gier, executive vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper Snapple on Monday. "It's just a matter of time until you see a major breakthrough."

Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has been working with agribusiness and commodity trading group Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] on a sweetener called Truvia, which is made from a South American herb called stevia. Cargill, which will market the product as a tabletop sweetener, said in May that it will be on the market this year.

Speaking on Monday at a conference hosted by beverage industry newsletter Beverage Digest, Coke's North American chief marketing officer, Katie Bayne, declined to say which drinks would use the new sweetener, or whether it was more appropriate for carbonated drinks like Diet Coke or still drinks like diet iced teas or juices.

PepsiCo is also working on a similar product from the same plant, which is native to Paraguay. Spokesman Dave DeCecco said the company had a supply and would be ready to market it when U.S. health regulators approve it.

Drinks containing this sweetener would likely be marketed to health-food stores and grocers, such as Whole Foods Market Inc (WFMI.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which prefer items without artificial sweeteners. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Stevia plant providing range of new, natural sugar alternatives

* June 10, 2008
* Daniel Palmer
* Source: Cargill
* Source: SweetLeaf Sweetener

The efforts of one man 25 years ago to bring a native plant from Paraguay to the United States is on the verge of changing the way America eats. Available online and in US grocery store aisles for the first time is an all-natural, zero-calorie, zero-carb, zero-glycemic index alternative to sugar.

“No pun intended, but for me, this day is sweet victory,” said Jim May, CEO and founder of Wisdom Natural Brands, the makers of SweetLeaf Sweetener. May was, according to Wisdom Natural Brands, the pioneer who realized the potential of the Stevia plant when visiting Paraguay.

A number of companies have been working with the stevia plant to create new sweeteners and Mr May is excited to get this version to the market before most of the competition. “We have been working behind the scenes for months to get SweetLeaf Sweetener to market before any of our competitors, and now that we see they won’t have product available until much later, we definitely have a competitive advantage,” May indicated.

Long used in the United States as a dietary supplement and nutritional additive, Stevia is a naturally sweet plant, native to Paraguay, that is 30 times sweeter than sugar. The pure glycosides that are extracted from the Stevia leaves are up to 400 times sweeter than sugar.

To date, more than 1,000 scientific studies and abstracts prove SweetLeaf Sweetener a safe and healthy alternative to sugar and man-made artificial sweeteners. “Despite the claims of other sweeteners, this is truly the first and only all natural, calorie-free, completely safe alternative to sugar,” May argued.

Coca-Cola and Cargill have, however, also reportedly created a zero-calorie sweetener using the stevia plant.

Research published in the peer-reviewed scientific Journal Food and Chemical Toxicology establishes the safety of rebiana (common name for high-purity Rebaudioside A from stevia) for general use to sweeten foods and beverages, according to experts at Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company.

Cargill consider rebiana to be the first consistent, high-purity sweetener composed of rebaudioside A, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf.

Cargill, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, has developed rebiana over a number of years as a natural, zero-calorie ingredient, which will be marketed by Cargill under the brand name ‘TRUVIA’.

“These newly published data complement the body of existing scientific research on steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf,” said Leslie Curry, regulatory and scientific affairs director, Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems. “The rebiana research program affirmed positive safety data from earlier studies on purified steviol glycosides and addressed unresolved questions resulting from studies with crude stevia extracts.”

Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Health and Nutrition, believes the sweetener will prove popular as consumers demand healthier food alternatives. “TRUVIA natural sweetener was developed to meet the strong consumer demand for a natural, zero calorie way to sweeten foods and beverages,” she said. “Rebiana provides a new great tasting alternative that meets that demand. The results of this research program pave the way to bring this long sought after sweetener to U.S. consumers.”

Cargill believe, in contrast to Wisdom Natural Brands, that rebiana will be the first available sweetener for foods and beverages that has been purified from the stevia plant.

As to which company was first to release a zero-calorie sweetener it is hard to judge, but one thing is sure, the new, natural sweeteners threaten to have a major impact on the food industry in the decades ahead.

The sweeteners are anticipated to be used for a variety of purposes, such as in baking and beverages.

Sweet Success for Stevia…finally

2008-06-06 - Functional Ingredients magazine
By Kimberly Lord Stewart

After decades of controversy, two sweeteners, derived from the stevia plant, may finally get their day in the consumer marketplace as something more than a dietary supplement. On May 15, Cargill introduced TRUVIA™, a branded sweetener made from rebiana for use in foods and beverages. Within two weeks of the Cargill announcement, Arizona based Wisdom Natural Brands, shipped Sweet Leaf® sweetener, made from steviol glycosides, to grocers across the country. Industry experts say with these two announcements, the race is on to gain consumer acceptance and brand awareness.

The first test will be restaurants and coffee shops. “It will be a race to who can own the tabletop market,” says Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., industry consultant from Corvus Blue. Shelke believes that consumers will form their first impression of rebiana or stevia when they try it from the little packets the coffee bar or restaurant table. It is a low-risk approach, she says. “If it a pleasant experience, the taste will linger in consumer’s food memories and thus relieve any doubts.” One of the drawbacks to previously tested stevia dietary-supplement brands is an aftertaste reminiscent of licorice. Rebiana and steviol glycosides contain no such aftertaste, according to both company reports.

In as early as Feb. 1986, FDA issued import alerts for stevia, branding it as an ingredient that should be detained if labeled as anything other than a dietary supplement. Many saw the controversy as a political quarrel with the end goal of quashing competition with the emerging artificial sweetener market.

For now, TRUVIA and Sweet Leaf change all that. Why the attitude adjustment? Even though the simultaneous release of Sweet Leaf and TRUVIA could easily be compared to a David and Goliath corporate competition – both companies used the same sling shot – a route called “self-determination of GRAS status.” This allows for the safety of the product to be decided by the views of experts, as long as there are significant published, peer-reviewed studies, available in the public domain. Wisdom Natural Brands and Cargill both hired teams of stevia experts (with FDA experience) to garner enough scientific support for each of their respective ingredients.

For Jim May, CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, who introduced stevia to the US marketplace from Paraguay in 1982, achieving self-determination GRAS status was a hallmark moment. After decades of defending the safety of stevia, May had enough proof in March of 2008 to move stevia up on the food chain, thus allowing it to be sold on the sugar shelf, rather than relegated to the dietary-supplement aisle. “No pun intended, but for me, this day is sweet victory,” May said.

For Cargill, the TRUVIA announcement was no less sweet. In partnership with Coca-Cola, Cargill spent years evaluating the ingredient for safety and perfecting ways to extract, what they consider, the best tasting component of the stevia plant, called rebaudioside A. Research, funded by Cargill, and published electronically on May 16, 2008, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology, demonstrated the safety of rebiana for use in sweetened food and beverages.

“It is important to note that TRUVIA is rebiana, not stevia,” says Steve Snyder, VP Global Business Director, High Intensity Sweeteners, Cargill Health & Nutrition. “Both stevia and rebiana come from the leaves of the stevia plant. Stevia is a sweetener that exists in the marketplace today as a dietary supplement. It is not a high-purity ingredient and its composition can vary widely – impacting quality and taste. Rebiana is a high-purity, fully-characterized extract that is consistently produced to a food-grade specification by Cargill.” See the sidebar below for more on the difference between stevia, rebiana and steviol glycosides.

Industry experts believe both forms of the no-calorie sweetener open new doors for the tabletop and beverage market, especially for consumers seeking an alternative to artificial sweeteners. Cargill plans to introduce a tabletop sweetener by end of year, though Coca-Cola has not announced the exact release date of its new TRUVIA-based beverages, citing competitive reasons. Wisdom Natural Brands began shipping their new Sweet Leaf sweetener to stores on June 2. They currently serve 99% of all natural product stores and thousands of grocery stores with their Stevia Plus brand.

The value of the alternative sweetener market is $915 million and continues to grow, according to Freedonia Group, a global research firm. Earlier this year the company said stevia (and agave) held the most hope for a widely accepted alternative sweetener. The reasons are many. First, according to recent research by the Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, National University in Paraguay, steviol glycosides have no ill effects on blood sugar or blood pressure in patients with type I or type II diabetes. Secondly, there is little argument about stevia being deemed a natural ingredient, which is an ongoing debate between the sucralose and sugar industry. And, since it is a non-GMO product, widespread acceptance in Asian and European markets is another plus. According to the Stevia Association in Paraguay, the product has applications in:

· Beverages (low-calorie or no-sugar drinks) and milk drinks

· Candy, ice cream, yogurt, jams

· Canned and jarred fruits

· Sweet and sour foods, sauces, pickles

· Gums and candies

· Table sweeteners

· Toothpaste

Kimberly Lord Stewart

[sidebar] Rebiana Refresher

· Stevia typically refers to a crude preparation (powder or liquid) made from the leaves of the stevia plant. Such preparations contain a mixture of many components, not just those that give a sweet taste to the leaf. Because the exact composition of the mixture is unknown, studies that have used “stevia” are often difficult to interpret.

· Steviol glycosides are the sweet components of the stevia leaf. There are various kinds of steviol glycosides, but the two most abundant types are stevioside and rebaudioside A.

· Stevioside is the most abundant steviol glycoside in the stevia leaf, and the most studied.

· Rebaudioside A is the best-tasting steviol glycoside. It is broken down by the body into the same basic parts as stevioside.

· Rebiana is a 97-percent pure extract of rebaudioside A. It is the first high-purity, well-characterized form of rebaudioside A.

· Steviol is the substance produced when the body breaks down steviol glycosides in the colon.

Source: Cargill, Overview of the Rebiana Research Program, May 2008

No-Calorie Natural Sweetener on the Way

Truvia, Made From Stevia, Expected to Debut This Year; Other Stevia Products Step Up

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

June 5, 2008 -- Splenda. NutraSweet. Sweet'N Low. Equal. Those no-calorie sweeteners may soon have new competition made from stevia, a shrub native to South America.

Stevia isn't new. It's been used for centuries as a sweetener in South America and is used Japan.

But in the U.S., stevia may only be sold as a dietary supplement -- not as a sweetener or a food additive -- due to the FDA's safety concerns. But that may be about to change.

Truvia, a new stevia product developed by Cargill and Coca-Cola, isn't settling for supplement status. It's set to debut later this year as a tabletop sweetener and ingredient in certain Coca-Cola products.

Truvia will have competition. Pepsi has its own stevia product in the works, and stevia supplements may look to move into the mainstream. All that buzz could spice up the competition for your sweet tooth.

But are the safety issues settled for good?

Naturally Calorie-Free

There's no shortage of no-calorie sweeteners on the market. The FDA has approved five artificial ones:

• Aspartame: Brand names include NutraSweet and Equal.
• Sucralose: Brand name is Splenda.
• Saccharin: Brand names include Sweet'N Low, Sweet Twin, and Necta Sweet.
• Acesulfame-K: Brand names include Sunett and Sweet One.
• Neotame: Approved for use as an ingredient in a wide variety of foods including baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum, jams, and syrups.

Truvia differs from those products because it's natural, and it differs from current stevia products because it's backed by extensive safety studies, notes Ann Tucker, Cargill's communications director.

Those studies, published in the advance online edition of Food and Chemical Toxicology, show no signs of the possible health issues -- such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and reproductive effects -- that have been noted in some, but not all stevia studies done mainly on animals.

In the Cargill and Coca-Cola funded studies, Truvia didn't affect blood pressure in healthy people or blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Further tests in rats show no effects on reproduction, fertility, or other health problems.

When Will Truvia Debut?

"Is it a go? Yes, it's a go," Cargill spokeswoman Ann Tucker says of Truvia. But she can't say exactly when Truvia will be available.

"That's the gazillion-dollar question," says Tucker, adding that Truvia will get a "rigorous review" by the scientific community before it hits the market.

The FDA says it will review Truvia's case to be considered "generally recognized as safe," which would pave the way for it to become the first stevia product allowed as a food additive in the U.S.

Perspective of a Watchdog Group

"No company was able to demonstrate its safety to FDA," David Schardt, senior nutritionist at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), tells WebMD. "Now maybe Cargill has done that. Maybe."

The CSPI hasn't been sweet on stevia because of possible safety issues.

"For good reason, FDA and a lot of other industrialized countries have not allowed it to be used as a food additive until these safety questions have been resolved. That's what Cargill thinks they've done ... at least with the extract that they're selling," says Schardt.

"We've always told consumers you're not going to drop dead if you use it [stevia] to sweeten your tea," says Schardt. "But there is concern about using it as a food additive, putting it into a lot of products that are sold to millions of people."

The CSPI's verdict on Truvia isn't in yet. But Schardt is cautiously optimistic. "We hope that the stevia extract does prove to be safe."

Sweetness in Moderation

Nutritionist Elaine Magee, MPH, RD -- WebMD's "Recipe Doctor" and the author of Food Synergy -- has blogged about her "wait and see" view of stevia.

"No matter what the alternative sweetener, including stevia, I would recommend moderation," Magee writes in an email. "I think that it tricks our body to taste sweetness and to not get the carbohydrates absorbed in the bloodstream that the body then expects. For some people I suspect this can bring on cravings or overeating later, perhaps."

That probably doesn't happen with "smaller amounts (like one diet soda a day)," writes Magee. "But there are people who have many diet sodas a day. This then also displaces more healthful beverages like green tea, water, or nonfat or low-fat milk."

That theory hasn't been proven. But it has come up in past research on diet sodas and weight gain. That research wasn't related to stevia.

Stevia Competition Heats Up

Pepsi plans to put its own highly purified, zero-calorie, all-natural stevia sweetener -- which doesn't have a name yet -- in various new products after it's approved by the FDA, PepsiCo spokesman David DeCecco tells WebMD in an email.

Meanwhile, a Seattle company called Zevia is already marketing Zevia, a carbonated dietary supplement containing stevia. The company touts its product as "the world's only all natural sugar-free alternative to diet soda." But Zevia hasn't bucked the "dietary supplement" label.

Zevia President and CEO Derek Newman tells WebMD in an email that the company has perfected the stevia taste with Zevia.

"I would be shocked if Cargill's product is nearly as good," he writes.

In a statement emailed by Tucker, Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Health and Nutrition, says, "There are many stevia blends available as dietary supplements today. We cannot comment on all the variations and only know that we consistently offer a safe, pure, and consistent product."

Truvia's research may not apply to other stevia products, notes Schardt.

"If you believe Cargill, the research establishing its safety is on a particular extract, a pure extract [Truvia], and that it doesn't necessarily apply to something else that's not quite the same. So that's an issue that I guess FDA is going to have to address," says Schardt.

Gilbert firm set to announce stevia distribution deal

June 3, 2008 - 8:45PM
Tony Natale, Tribune
www.eastvalleytribune.com

Jim May is about to begin the sweetest deal of his entrepreneurial life. The 72-year-old Valley businessman is keen on a sweet herb called stevia and will soon distribute the sweetener to more than 14,000 health food stores and thousands of supermarkets across the nation.

He plans to hold a news conference Thursday in New York City to announce the deal.

May, founder of Wisdom Natural Brands in Gilbert, is beating some of the world’s biggest corporations to the punch, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and several leading drug companies that are expected to market the sweetener later this year.

“I feel like David beating Goliath,” May said.

Stevia, a plant used by Guarani Indians in South America centuries ago to make tea and medicines, is one of the most popular sweeteners in Japan and is part of a growing market in China.

But it was banned for use specifically as a sweetener in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in 1991. In 1995, the FDA changed its decision and said it could be imported but labeled only as a “dietary supplement,” not a “sweetener.”

However, May challenged the FDA decision and won the right to distribute stevia as a sweetener.

His product, called SweetLeaf Sweetener, unlike most food supplements, contains no calories or carbohydrates and does not raise blood sugar levels, making it safer, for example, for diabetes patients.

Sweeteners on today’s market, including Equal and Splenda, are made from chemicals, May said.

May learned about stevia from a friend and physician who had served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.

“My friend and I were sitting at his home in Mesa and he asked me to taste a dried leaf and, frankly, I was apprehensive,” May recalled. “I said, ‘No, thanks.’ But he convinced me, and I finally relented. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted.”

At that moment, May said he was convinced the herb could be used to produce a sweetener and could become a profitable venture. He gave his friend virtually all of his savings and asked him to return to Paraguay and begin shipping the leaves to him.

“My wife, Carol, nearly fainted when she learned I had risked all of our life’s savings, but I had this gut feeling,” May said.

His company was started in their garage at their home in Phoenix. Through the years his company expanded and in 2005 moved to a 30,000-square-foot office and warehouse in Gilbert.

The company, which distributes a variety of health foods, has 30 employees. It owns a manufacturing and distribution plant in Chicago and has annual revenue of more than $12 million, May said.

The SweetLeaf Sweetener, also called SweetLeaf SteviaPlus, will be sold in boxes containing either 50 or 100 packets of stevia. Each packet replaces 2 teaspoons of sugar.

May said the market for stevia not only will result in economic gains for his firm, but also will have another effect.

Stevia “is the perfect crop for Third World countries,” said May. “It can only be grown in hot, humid climates where a lot of marijuana and cocaine plants are now being raised for the illegal drug markets. These countries now will have a choice to grow a plant that is healthy — and profitable.”


Founder and CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands Jim May, holds one of the tiny leaves of the stevia plant which are used to produce his SweetLeaf Sweetener product. The Gilbert company is in the process of launching nationwide sales of the natural sweetener.

Stevia One Step Closer To Food & Beverage Market (KO, PEP)

Jon C. Ogg
June 3, 2008
www.247wallst.com

If you have been a "diet" or zero calorie soft drink beverage drinker or have used artificial sweeteners on foods, there has always been the issue of "what are you putting into your body?". Most sugar-substitute sweeteners on the market have a myriad of chemicals or are derived from sugar. Finally this is about to change, and the change will be official.

Last year there was a report on CNBC citing the WSJ that Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) had teamed up with Cargill to develop and market a new calorie-free natural sweetener in an attempt to appeal to a growing band of health-conscious consumers. The problem is that this from the Stevia plant, and it is not approved as a "food additive" in the U.S. nor in Europe.

The most recognized brand for Stevia is SweetLeaf(R), under parent Wisdom Natural Brands(R) based in Gilbert, Arizona. Until now this had to be sold as a "dietary supplement" and could not be marketed as a sweetener because Stevia is not approved as a food additive in the U.S. nor in Europe. SweetLeaf(R) Sweetener(TM) has recently achieved GRAS status (generally recognized as safe) via outside independent review.

The regulatory and production challenges that hindered Coca-Cola's & Cargill's "rebania" product may soon be about to change. Stevia comes from an all natural plant root and has been used as an "artificial sugar-free and calorie-free sweetener" for years by many. Cargill's website links you to its own Truvia(tm), and Cargill made their announcement in mid-May calling it a sweetener.

This nod might not do anything for the production challenges and current supply limitations that may exist. But this a great start. Coca-Cola has many patents that may cover this, but you can be assured that Pepsico (NYSE: PEP) and other food and beverage makers may take an interest if they haven't already.

It's always touchy writing about a product you use or a product you like, because the objectivity becomes skewed. But this is something that is written about with some cheer. The truth is that some people love the flavor or sweetness of Stevia, and many don't. This won't lead to a category-killer product that kills all traditional soft drinks nor will it kill all diet drinks and other sugar substitutes or sweeteners in foods. But it will lead to a new category of sugar-substitute drinks and foods that have previously not been allowed on the market.

Coca-Cola and Cargill Announce New All-Natural Sweetner

lovinglowcarblife.blogspot.com Amy Dungan (aka Sparky's Girl)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

For those of you who have been hoping for the day Stevia would be available as a sweetener for your favorite foods and beverages, your wait is almost over.

I was honored to be invited to a webinar held by Coca-Cola and Cargill to discuss this latest breakthrough in sweeteners.* The presentation was informative and encouraging, and I'm happy to share with you what I've learned.

Three panelists were in attendance to explain the latest research and development of the first natural, zero calorie sweetener, which they have named Truvia (TM) (pronounced Tru-VEE-a). The experts on this panel were Leslie Curry, who is the Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director for Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems, Dr. Rhona Applebaum who is Vice President and Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer for The Coca-Cola Company, and Zanna McFerson who is Business Director for Cargill Health & Nutriton.

First, a short stevia history lesson...

Stevia was discovered in 1887 by Moises Santiago Bertoni while studying herbs used by Guarani natives in Paraguay.

In 1931 French food chemists isolate the compounds (glycosides) that give stevia it's sweet taste.

In 1977 Japanese consumers begin enjoying foods and beverages sweetened with stevia.

FDA permits use of stevia in dietary supplements in the U.S. in 1994.

In 2005 the Coca-Cola Company and Cargill develop rebiana.

In 2006-2008 Cargill works with leading external scientists and consults with the FDA to establish the safety of rebiana.

2008 - Truvia (TM) is introduced.



So you can see that stevias journey from Paraguay to, very soon, our tables has been a long one.

You may have noticed that I mentioned something called rebiana earlier. Stevia is a mixture of all components of the stevia leaf - including those that do not have a sweet taste. Rebiana, on the other hand, is a high purity, well-characterized extract from stevia leaves and is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Leaves from the stevia plant are harvested and dried, then steeped in fresh water in a process similar to making tea. This unlocks the best-tasting part of the leaf, which they then purify to make a food-grade sweet ingredient.

Now all these little tid-bits of info are all well and good, but you want answers to the big questions. Is it safe? When can we get it? Will it be in foods and beverages? How does it affect blood sugar? I happy to say Coca-Cola and Cargill have provided answers to these questions.

In a study, which was published in the Food and Chemical toxicology Journal on May 15th, Cargill enlisted leading external scientists, and consulted with the FDA, to design and conduct a rigrous safety evalulation program for rebiana. The program objectives were as follows:

- To ensure data on stevioside are relevant to rebaudioside A
- To Resolve outstanding questions. Example: Possible effects on blood pressure/sugar, reproductive health and kidney function.

Study details:

Intake assessment and methodology: Estimated intake of rebiana for average and high consumers was calculated using extensive databases/studies of actual high-intensity sweetener intakes.

Phramacokinetics and metabolism: Designed to determine whether rebiana is metabolized in the same manner as stevioside, which is almost identical in structure.

General safety: Study that tested safety of rebiana at very high doses.

Multigenerational/reproductive safety: Study assessing reproductive and developmental impact of rebiana at very high doses.

Blood pressure: 4-week clinical study in people with normal to low-normal blood pressure.

Glucose homeostasis: 16-week clinical study in people with type 2 diabetes.

The clinical studies have all been placebo controlled, randomized double-blind studies conducted in compliance with good laboratory practices.

The results:

Metabolism studies - Metabolism of rebaudioside A is similar to that of stevioside
- Extensive toxicology data on stevioside can be applied to rebiana. (the safety or rebiana is supported by a large body or research on purified steviol glycosides.)

General safety - No negative effects on general health associated with daily consumption of the equivalent of more than 2,000 8-oucse servings of rebiana-sweetened beverage for a 150 lb person.

Mulitgenerationsl/reproductive safety - Daily consumption equivalent to a 150 lbs person drinking more than 1,000 8 ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage had no negative effects on general health, reproduction, growth or development of adults or their offspring.

Chronic Blood pressure study - Daily consumption of 1,000 mg/day or rebiana - the equivalent to consumting 29 tabletop sweetener packets a day or eight 8-ounce servings of rebaiana-sweetened beverage - for four weeks had no significatn blood pressure effects in the healthy subjects with normal or low-normal blood pressure.

Chronic blood sugar study - Consumption of 1,000 mg/day of rebiana for 16 weeks did not affect blood sugar control and was well-tolerated in people with type 2 diabetes.

They believe this clearly establishes the safety of rebiana for use as a general purpose sweetener for all consumers.

At the end of the webinar they had a short Q and A for those attending. Many had the same questions we do. Since the issue of safety has been resolved, lets move on the the next question:

Do you anticipate FDA approval in foods and beverages? If so, when?
According to Leslie Curry, they have notified the FDA of the findings. So I guess that means they'll have to wait and see. I do get the feeling they feel assured it will go through, due to the answer to this next question.

When will the product be available for consumers?

Zanna McFerson tells us to expect it this year in the U.S. as a table top sweetener, followed by Truvia (TM) in foods and beverages.

When will Truvia (TM) be available in Coca-Cola beverages and other beverage companies?
Coca-Cola can only speak for themselves, but cannot discuss the timing due to competitive reasons.

What are the sweeteners limitations? Can you cook with it?

It can be used across a wide variety of applicatons. It's PH and heat stable - so it can be baked with. (My note: Whoo Hoo!!!)

Zanna McFerson made the remark that they have "had great reviews from consumers around the world and expert panels and taste tests."

To learn more about this innovative new product you can visit the following websites:

All About Rebiana

Truvia

So there you have it! A new choice for those who may be looking for more natural alternatives for sweetening their foods and beverages. Keep an eye out for it. I have the feeling we'll be seeing it very soon, and I can't wait to try it!

Coca-Cola, Cargill debut Truvia sweetener

Beverage Industry Insider - May 21, 2008

The Coca-Cola Co. and Cargill last week announced details on a sweetener made from the rebiana compounds in the stevia leaf. The companies worked together to develop the product, which is said to have a clean, sweet taste and is 200 times sweeter than sugar. The product will be marketed under the Truvia brand name.

“This is a significant milestone for Cargill’s emerging zero calorie sweetener business with application across food, beverage and tabletop products,” said Marcelo Montero, president of Cargill Health & Nutrition. “We have spent more than two years validating the consumer demand for this new sweetener.”

The companies announced that research on the safety of the new sweetener would be published electronically in the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, and represents the first safety evaluation program to evaluate rebiana. The research, “addressed unresolved questions and verified the safety of the product for use as a general purpose sweetener,” Cargill said in a statement. “The research program included metabolism, safety, intake, stability and human studies that complement the body of previously published research on purified steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf.”

Cargill has built a consistent stevia supply chain in anticipation of launching Truvia, it says. One stevia plant yields enough rebiana for 30 six-ounce cups of coffee.

Artificial Sweeteners: It’s NOT The Package, Stupid!

supermarketguru.ivillage.com
May 19 at 3:53 PM

Whether it’s yellow, pink or blue it won’t make a difference!

The legendary success of Bill Clinton’s first election as president was all about focus. James Carville, who kept the campaign on target, and coined the phrase “it’s about the economy, stupid” knew that the key to the election was understanding was voters wanted. And it’s the same when it comes to our foods.

NutraSweet, an ingredient in many packaged foods and beverages, has decided that in order to grow their business they will now offer the products in yellow, pink and blue packages as a way of…shall we be the first to say it?...confusing consumers.

NutraSweet is aspartame, wait a minute... Equal is aspartame. And wasn’t Equal supposed to be the all successful consumer packaged product for NutraSweet? By the way, it’s the number three brand with 12% of sales, behind Splenda which has about 70% of the sales and Sweet’n Low with 13%.

It will take a lot more than just a confusing package redesign. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has received more complaints about adverse reactions to aspartame than on any other food ingredient in the FDA’s history. There are also over 90 registered side effects to aspartame. Perhaps the reason that Equal hasn’t sold more is that shoppers have read these reports and don’t want to consume the product.

The timing of this announcement is as odd as the ill-conceived concept. Just last week, Coca-Cola and Cargill published a series of scientific health-based studies on their sweetener, Truvia. Truvia is their brand name of Stevia, which I am a huge proponent for. Imagine no calories, great taste and a natural product.

While the FDA hasn’t yet approved it as a sweetener, health focused shoppers have been buying Stevia in packets in the dietary supplement aisles since the mid 1990s. But there is little doubt that now with Coke’s interest (and investments) that we should soon see yet another “new” Coke – this time sweetened naturally without either high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners.

And no doubt, Truvia will also enter the individual packets war, probably in a white or beige package…and no doubt will be the winner as more of us seek out less processed, less confusing and all natural foods; regardless of the package color.

What’s your favorite sweetener?

Finally! A Natural Diet Soft Drink! Thank Goodness For Coca-Cola!

Posted by Dr. Nicole in May 19th, 2008

Posted in: Sugar Substitutes, Weight Loss, Kitchen Sink

I bet you thought you would NEVER in your lifetime hear a Naturopathic Physician sing the praises of Coca-Cola, but because they are going to be the FIRST company out with a new naturally sweetened zero calorie soft drink made out of the herb Stevia, I thought I would do a little promo for them.

Because Aspartame is a Villain of the Kitchen Table, I whole heartedly recommend Stevia as the only currently safe zero calorie sweetener. Stevia has been used for over 200 years in Paraguay, and in my opinion we need to use products that are shown to be safe by research. I am always skeptical of any new chemical that has not passed the test of time, and has safely passed through generations of humans.

Truvia is the brand name of the natural sweetener synthesized from the plant Stevia that will be used in this new Coca Cola product. You can read an article about the use of Stevia based products here.

Otherwise I thought I would share with you all the exciting press release I just received on this product soon to hit the shelves this year:

I hope that this product made from Stevia will give all you diet pop drinkers a new healthier option. Please keep in mind that I am completely AGAINST the use of the evil villain aspartame and until this product is out would prefer that people drink regular soda or even better green tea, or good ol’ water!

If we are forced to GROW plants in order to fulfill the demand for zero calorie products that is only a benefit to the environment, as the growth of plants helps to fight the rising levels of carbon monoxide in our atmosphere and the resultant “Greenhouse Effect”.

Hooray for Coca-Cola and Cargill…it is important that a large company like Coca-Cola is on board with this mission to provide natural products because they actually have the name brand and reach to promote a natural product.

Just say “NO” to fake food!

~Dr. Nicole Sundene
Naturopathic Physician
http://kitchentablemedicine.com

What is Truvia?

by Melissa Goldberg

Sunday, 18 May 2008

Today our food is over-processed and contains artificial ingredients and sweeteners. Reading the ingredients labels on most foods in the supermarkets makes me feel illiterate, Dimonowhat? Polyglycolichuh? Years ago everything contained sugar. Then saccharin (Sweet'N Low) came into vogue as a "dietetic" alternative to plain cane or beet sugar--remember TaB? Then, when that was found to cause cancer the big switch was to aspartame, (NutraSweet or Equal). In 1999 sucralose was introduced to the market and the Splenda symbol appeared on every processed, low calorie food on the market--my husband, until recently used Splenda in his coffee everyday. So when I heard that Cargill, the company that in March, CondeNast Portfolio listed as one of "The Toxic Ten" (one of the worst corporate polluters in America) and Coca Cola, who has basically put America on an intravenous (IV) line of high fructose corn syrup, were coming out with a new sweetener, you can bet I was a little skeptical. Like we need another zero-calorie, chemical, no-value sweetener on the market. Well, this new sweetener is called Truvia. Truvia is made of rebiana, a sweetener derived from the leaves of stevia plant. Native to South and Central America, stevia is grown for its sweet leaves. The stevia extract turns out to be more than 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia leaves are harvested and dried, and are steeped in fresh water in a process similar to that of making tea. According to Cargill and Coke, Truvia is a natural sweetener. However, what the companies fail to explain is how the steeped leaves then get to the consumer in a bag looking like a table sweetener. It must be processed in some way, no? So I am not sure how natural Truvia really is. Cargill and Coke are currently waiting FDA approval to sell stevia as a sweetener. It is currently only allowed to be used as a supplement in the U.S. -- supplements are not regulated by the FDA, and as such are not widely accepted by the public. Stevia has been used in Japan for over 100 years. Wanting to know more about Truvia, I jumped on the opportunity to listened in on a "webinar," (web conference call), with Coke and Cargill last week. The call included Leslie Curry, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director for Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems, Zanna McFerson, Business Director for Cargill Health & Nutrition and Dr. Rhona Applebaum, Vice President & Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer for The Coca-Cola Company. These were basically hired cheerleaders for Truvia. What did I learn from more than 30 minutes listening in? Almost nothing. Coke and Cargill have done safety studies on the use of rebiana. The companies say that it is safe to eat. I'm dubious. I do not think that any of these tests look at the actual amounts consumers consume. Coke and Cargill have big commercial hopes for Truvia beyond just liquid crack, I mean Coke. Think ice cream, yogurt, cookies, and more -- all hitting our sweet tooth cravings. If these wonderful companies have their way, many Americans will be taking in stevia or Truvia in nearly every meal and snack they eat. That impact of that amount of Truvia on the body can not really be determine without many years of studies. To find out more about stevia, I did some digging on the internet. I was curious as to why stevia was banned in the U.S and Europe as a sweetener but Japan has used it for decades. From my research, it appears that stevia is actually a better substitute from the chemical processed sweetners (asparatame and sucralose) on the market today. More importantly, what I discovered about the politics behind this sugar-substitute was very interesting. In the 1980's numerous companies in the U.S were interested in using stevia in their products. In 1991, the FDA banned the importation of stevia for use in foods. According to numerous papers that I read, this was at the request of NutraSweet (owned by evil Monsanto who brought us Agent Orange, PCBs, genetically engineered seeds, sacchrin, aspartame, nuclear weapons, and human growth hormones in milk cattle). The power of Monsanto kept stevia out of the country banning it for almost 20 years. By the way, the FDA ignored published studies on the dangers of aspartame prior to its approval by the agency. God bless the United States of Corporate America! Now I do not trust any of these companies, Monsanto, Cargill or Coke, but from what I have read and heard, Truvia may not be all bad. Cargill and Coke are ramping up farming and production of stevia in South America and China. If Truvia is truly a natural zero calorie sweetener then it could become huge. We could see fields of stevia all over the world. This could be good and bad. It would bring money to some communities that need it, and it could also wreak environmental havoc due to poor farming practices. According to the Truvia website, the plant will not be grown organically. As stated, "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." The idea is to have an "all-natural" zero-cal sweetener, and they are not growing it organically? I don't get it. Why not do it right from the beginning? These are two companies that generate billions of dollars of year, and will probably have the exclusive rights to use this "wonder sweetener" and are not going to grow it organically? Crazy. Beyond that, this whole thing gets me wondering. If stevia was blocked from our consumption by Monsanto nearly 20 years ago, and its better for us than chemicals like aspartame and saccharine, then what else has have we been denied for the almighty dollar?

"Truvia": Way sweeter than sugar without the calories

A Better Life... Taking the pulse of health news
By Rita Rubin

You might soon see Truvia listed among the ingredients in your Diet Coke, not to mention a whole bunch of other sugar-free products.

Truvia, the brand name for a compound called rebiana, is an intense, no-calorie sweetener made from the leaves of the stevia shrub (pictured). It's 200 to 300 times sweeter than ordinary sugar. (I got to chew on a stevia leaf last summer during a visit to the lovely Montreal Botanical Garden, and I can tell you it's definitely sweet.) Cargill, a Minneapolis-based company, and Coca-Cola have been working on developing Truvia for four years.

Stevia has been used as a sweetener in Japan for more than 30 years, and it now represents 40% of that country's no- and low-calorie sweetener market, according to Cargill. In the U.S., though, the FDA has considered stevia to be an "unsafe food additive."

In a warning letter last August to the maker of Celestial Seasonings tea, an FDA official wrote that reports in the scientific literature "have raised safety concerns about the use of stevia," specifically its effects on blood sugar control, the reproductive and cardiovascular systems and the kidneys. (According to the FDA letter, Celestial Seasonings had marketed its Zingers Tangerine Orange Tea powdered drink mix as a dietary supplement, which could use stevia as an ingredient. Nice try, but a powdered drink mix is food, not a dietary supplement, the letter said.)

So what's changed? Cargill issued a press release yesterday to "introduce" Truvia after the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology published online a paper characterizing the properties of the sweetener and describing the development of a purification process. The authors, all Cargill or Coca-Cola researchers, describe Truvia as having a "clean, sweet taste with no significant undesirable taste characteristics."

Food additives don't have to go through the same regulatory process as prescription drugs, but the FDA does consider whether published or unpublished studies establish safety. In a separate press release yesterday, Cargill and Coca-Cola said the journal article "clearly establishes the safety" of Truvia. According to the press release, many existing stevia products contain crude extracts of the plant, while Truvia "contains only the best-tasting components of the stevia leaf."

I talked with Cargill's Ann Tucker this afternoon about when U.S. consumers might see Truvia-sweetened products at the grocery store. Her answer: By year's end, after Cargill and Coca-Cola have presented their research findings to toxicologists and other interested scientists. "Let's make sure that everyone agrees the science is complete," Tucker says.

Do you consume a lot of foods that contain low- or no-calorie sweeteners? Do you think you'd try Truvia-sweetened products?

Ever heard of stevia? Thanks to Coca Cola you will

Caffeine Examiner
www.examiner.com

POSTED May 16, 2:28 PM

Even though stevia is listed as a dietary nutrient and not a sweetener, everyone who has ever tasted stevia knows it still is a sugar substitute. In fact, this amazing noncaloric herb, native to Paraguay, has been used as a sweetener for centuries. With zero calories, zero carbohydrates and a zero glycemic index, it is understandable why people would want this plant to be part of their diet.
However, the herb has had a real problem in the United States in recent years because of actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), stevia can be sold legally in the United States, but only as a "dietary supplement." If you call it a sweetner it would be considered "adulterated," and the FDA can come in and seize it. In other countries though, Stevia is widely used. In fact, Japan, where its refined product known as stevioside, enjoys 41% of the sweetener market.
Do we need another sweetner, what with sucralose, aspartime, and saccharin? First, stevia is natural, as opposed to the other three which are made in a lab. There are also some real benefits to it.; in all the studies done with this sweetener, it does not have any side effects, can not be overdosed upon, does not cause cancer in lab animals. Actually, the rats had decreased incidence of breast tumors, while the males displayed a lesser incidence of kidney damage. It may also contribute to stablization of blood sugar allowing those who are currently insulin dependent to eventually not need treatment for high blood sugar levels and may also contribute to lowering of blood pressure.

But now, there has been a major shift bringing stevia to market, thanks to uber-global-corporate-machine Coca Cola. They are soon going to release diet drinks with a purified version of stevia, called Truvia.
According to a BevNET article, Coca-Cola is exploring beverage applications for Truvia – co-developed with Cargill . A representative from the company declined to say when those products might launch.

“For competitive reasons we cannot discuss the timing,” said Dr. Rhona Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer for The Coca-Cola Company. But Cargill Inc said on Thursday that it expects Truvia to be on the U.S. market by the end of the year.

"TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener is a breakthrough new ingredient. This is a significant milestone for Cargill's emerging zero calorie sweetener business with application across food, beverage and tabletop products. We have spent more than two years validating the consumer demand for this new sweetener. Soon consumers will recognize TRUVIA(TM) for quality and great taste, delivering the first natural, zero calorie sweetness people have been asking for," said Marcelo Montero, president, Cargill Health & Nutrition.

Cargill, which has developed Truvia in partnership with Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said it has notified U.S. health regulators of the safety of Truvia. The companies said last year that they would move to market the sweetener in 12 countries where it is approved as a food additive, including Japan, Brazil and China.

Stevia-Based Rebiana Sweetener Studies Published

Lynn A. Kuntz
05/16/2008

The peer-reviewed scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology published a series of studies online today that verify the safety of rebiana (the common name for high-purity rebaudioside A from stevia) when consumed as a general-use sweetener. Cargill Inc., Wayzata, MN, partnering with The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, has developed rebiana as a natural, zero-calorie ingredient that will be marketed by Cargill under the TRUVIA™ brand.

The clinical studies were commissioned by Cargill to: ensure the safety of rebiana for general-purpose use as a sweetener; ensure the data on stevioside are relevant to rebaudioside A (a sweet-tasting steviol glycoside extracted from the stevia plant and the major component of rebiana); and resolve questions raised by previous studies or regulatory authorities regarding rebiana’s safety.

“These newly published data complement the body of existing scientific research on steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf,” says Leslie Curry, regulatory and scientific affairs director, Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems. “The rebiana research program affirmed positive safety data from earlier studies on purified steviol glycosides and addressed unresolved questions resulting from studies with crude stevia extracts.”

The studies found:

• Human metabolism of rebaudioside A is similar to that of stevioside, the most abundant steviol glycoside in the stevia leaf;.
• No negative effects on general health were associated with doses equivalent to a 150-lb. person drinking more than 2,000 8-oz. servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage;
• It had no treatment-related effects on any organ, including kidneys and male reproductive organs.
• It had no negative effects on reproduction, growth or development of adults or their offspring.
• It had no significant blood-pressure effects in healthy subjects with normal or low-normal blood pressure.
• It had no effect on blood sugar control.
• It was well-tolerated in people with type 2 diabetes.

Certain stevia products are currently sold as supplements in the United States. Stevia-based sweeteners have not yet been approved for use in the United States, Canada or Europe, although they are in use in several global markets, most notably Japan, China and Korea. However, although no timetable is forthcoming, Cargill and Coca-Cola expect FDA approval in the near future. These studies are essential to this process.

“TRUVIA natural sweetener was developed to meet the strong consumer demand for a natural, zero-calorie way to sweeten foods and beverages. Rebiana provides a new, great-tasting alternative that meets that demand,” says Zanna McFerson, business director, Cargill Health & Nutrition. “The results of this research program pave the way to bring this long sought after sweetener to U.S. consumers.”

Rebiana is approximately 200 times as sweet as sugar and minimizes any off-flavors—generally described as bitter and/or licorice-like—found in other stevia products.

Cargill's new no-calorie sweetener gets a nod

Studies that found Truvia safe for human consumption make it eligible for retail sales. Coca-Cola helped develop the product.

By MATT McKINNEY, Star Tribune
Last update: May 15, 2008 - 11:08 PM

A new zero-calorie natural sweetener made by Cargill moved a step closer to the marketplace Thursday when the company announced that its research found the product safe for human consumption.

The studies, published electronically Thursday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, qualify the new sweetener for retail sales under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules. No further approval is required.

A Cargill spokeswoman said the product is likely to be on the market later this year. Among the food companies considering its use is Coca-Cola, which collaborated with Cargill over the past three years to develop the product.

The sweetener, with the trade name rebiana and sold under the brand name Truvia, is derived from stevia, a shrub common to South America but also grown in Asia. Cargill plans to obtain its stevia from China, the world's largest exporter of the plant, according to a company spokeswoman.

The FDA has considered stevia an unsafe food additive and has instructed its agents to seize the plant and food containing stevia imported into the country. The stevia import alert, issued in 1995, said that available information on the plant did not prove its safety.

Stevia also has been banned for food use in the European Union and Hong Kong, but it's widely used in a handful of Asian countries and parts of South America.

Although it is not allowed as a food additive in the United States, stevia is allowed as a dietary supplement, with predictably confusing results for consumers.

The FDA sent a warning letter last August to the Hain Celestial Group, the Boulder, Colo., maker of Celestial Seasonings tea, after learning that the company's Zingers to GO Tangerine Orange Wave Herb Tea contained stevia.

Rather than drop the ingredient from the tea, the company changed its labeling to emphasize that the tea is a dietary supplement.

Cargill, answering questions from a reporter Thursday, said the stevia plant has "historical baggage resulting from crude products" that were made in the past, but that an independent panel approved the safety of Truvia, which is a purified constituent of the stevia plant known as rebaudioside A.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329

Cargill Introduces TRUVIA(TM) Natural Sweetener Brand, the First Natural, Zero-Calorie, Great-Tasting Sweetener

Business Wire 2008-05-15 17:05:57 -

- Cargill Ann Clark Tucker, 952-742-4057 ann_tucker@cargill.com In response to strong consumer demand for a natural, zero-calorie way to sweeten foods and beverages, Cargill today introduced TRUVIA(TM) brand (pronounced Tru-VEE-a) natural sweetener, a great-tasting, zero-calorie sweetener made from rebiana, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf. TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener will provide consumers with a new, natural way to reduce calories in their diet while still enjoying sweet-tasting foods and beverages.

"TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener is a breakthrough new ingredient. This is a significant milestone for Cargill's emerging zero calorie sweetener business with application across food, beverage and tabletop products. We have spent more than two years validating the consumer demand for this new sweetener. Soon consumers will recognize TRUVIA(TM) for quality and great taste, delivering the first natural, zero calorie sweetness people have been asking for," said Marcelo Montero, president, Cargill Health & Nutrition.

Beginning in Nature

TRUVIA(TM) rebiana begins with a leaf. Leaves from the stevia plant, a shrub native to Paraguay and today commercially grown in China, are harvested and dried, then steeped in fresh water in a process similar to that of making tea. This process unlocks the best-tasting part of the leaf, which is then purified to make a food-grade sweet ingredient. The finished product is the pure sweetness of rebiana, which is 200 times sweeter than sugar. TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener has a clean, sweet taste that is consistent as an ingredient for food and beverages.

"This new, natural sweetener leverages Cargill's expertise in specialty food ingredients, agronomy, food science and safety as well as consumer insight and marketing capabilities," said Steve Snyder, vice president, Cargill Health & Nutrition. "The company is positioned to manage the development of this new sweetener from the first plantings in the field to formulation for foods and beverages, all the way to the product that will sweeten your morning coffee."

Scientific Studies Supporting Truvia(TM) Natural Sweetener

Research published electronically today in the peer-reviewed, scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology clearly establishes the safety of rebiana for use as a natural, zero-calorie sweetener in food and beverages. A rigorous safety evaluation program - the first of its kind to evaluate rebiana - addressed unresolved questions and verified the safety of the product for use as a general purpose sweetener. The research program included metabolism, safety, intake, stability and human studies that complement the body of previously published research on purified steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf.

Background on Stevia

The stevia plant has been grown, harvested and used in South America to sweeten foods and beverages for more than 200 years. The plant was discovered by the Guarani natives of Paraguay who used its leaves to sweeten drinks. In 1931, two French food-researchers isolated the sweet components of the stevia leaf.

Consumers in Japan have been using stevia commercially for more than three decades, and today, stevia represents 40 percent of the country's low- or zero-calorie sweetener market.

Because rebiana begins with a leaf, supply is contingent upon the strength of the stevia crop. Over many years, Cargill has built a strong and consistent stevia supply chain in anticipation of launching TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener, and has a dedicated staff on the ground and partner companies in key regions around the world supervising production and ensuring good stewardship of land and water. Today, one stevia plant yields enough rebiana for 30 six-ounce cups of coffee.

About TRUVIA(TM) Natural Sweetener

TRUVIA(TM) natural sweetener is a great-tasting, natural, zero-calorie product, made from rebiana, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf.

For more information, visit www.allaboutrebiana.com or www.TRUVIA.com.

About Cargill

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., Cargill is a privately held international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. As a global leader in nourishing people, Cargill offers a wide range of sweetness solutions based on consumer demand and tastes. With 158,000 employees in 66 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed. For more information about Cargill, visit: www.cargill.com.

TRUVIA(TM) Natural Sweetener Will Be Available in 2008

Coca-Cola exploring new sweetener for beverages

Posted: 5/15/2008 2:45:00 PM
By Matt Casey, BevNET Staff Writer

Coca-Cola is exploring beverage applications for Truvia – the natural, zero-calorie sweetener the company co-developed with Cargill – but a representative from the company declined to say when those products might launch.

“For competitive reasons we cannot discuss the timing,” said Dr. Rhona Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer for The Coca-Cola Company.

Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Sweetness Solutions, also dodged the question of whether Coca-Cola would have exclusive access to the sweetener in the beverage world.

“This collaboration is about combining the core competencies of both companies to bring this product to market,” McFerson said. She added that Cargill would bring the sweetener to the food market while Coca-Cola would bring it to the beverage market.

McFerson and Applebaum spoke Thursday during a teleconference announcing completed research on the product. The sweetener is 200 times sweeter than sugar and derived from the stevia plant by way of drying the leaves then steeping them in water.

Stevia sweeteners are already widely used around the world, but previous attempts to bring the product to the U.S. food market have been blocked by the Food and Drug Administration, most recently in 2004 – though stevia products are available as “dietary supplements.”

Leslie Curry, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Director for Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems, said Truvia, which has not yet been approved by the FDA, differs from previous U.S. attempts at stevia sweeteners because it is purer, more consistent and better researched.

For more information on Truvia, click here.

Source: BevNET.com Staff

Cargill sees new sweetener on market in '08

© Thomson Reuters 2008. Thu May 15, 2008 11:49am EDT

By Martinne Geller

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Agribusiness and commodity trading group Cargill Inc said on Thursday that it expects its no-calorie sweetener made from a South American shrub to be on the U.S. market by the end of the year.

In an interview, Marcelo Montero, president of Cargill's Health and Nutrition unit, said the product, called rebiana, will be available this year as a tabletop sweetener.

Rebiana, which will be sold under the name Truvia, is made from the leaves of a shrub called stevia that is native to Paraguay and will provide a natural alternative to chemical sweeteners including Sweet'N Low and Equal.

Stevia is not approved as a food additive by health regulators in the United States or the European Union, though it can be sold as a dietary supplement. It is approved in a dozen countries, including Japan, China and Brazil.

Privately-held Cargill, which is handling the growing of the plants and the regulatory process, said it has notified the U.S. Food and Drug Association that Truvia is safe, based on scientific studies being published on Thursday in the journal "Food and Chemical Toxicology."

The company said FDA approval typically takes anywhere from two to six months.

Montero said Cargill is working with a number of companies on projects involving the sweetener, but declined to give a timeline for the launch of other rebiana-sweetened food products.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola Co, which co-developed the product with Cargill and has exclusive rights to use it in beverages, also declined to offer a schedule.

"We'll certainly explore the different applications," said Coke spokesman Kelly Brooks.

Most full-calorie soft drinks sold in the United States are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a cheap alternative to cane sugar. But corn syrup has been criticized for contributing to obesity and has soared in price due to climbing demand for ethanol, which is also made from corn.

Lower-calorie sodas are now made with artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose, which are sold under the respective brand names of Sweet'N Low, NutraSweet and Equal, and Splenda, which is made by Tate & Lyle Plc.

Drinks sweetened with rebiana would likely appeal to health-conscious consumers and natural grocers, such as Whole Foods Market Inc, that tend to carry products made from natural ingredients.

One of Cargill's rebiana suppliers, GLG Life Tech Corp, said earlier this month that it started building a 500-metric-ton stevia processing facility in Qingdao, China.

(Editing by Brian Moss)

Cargill sees Truvia on U.S. market by year-end

Thomson Reuters 2008
Thu May 15, 2008 9:48am EDT

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Agribusiness and commodity trading group Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] said on Thursday that it expects its natural, no-calorie sweetener to be on the U.S. market by the end of the year.

In an interview, Marcelo Montero, president of Cargill's Health and Nutrition unit, said the product, to be called Truvia, will be available this year as a tabletop sweetener.

Cargill, which has developed Truvia in partnership with Coca-Cola Co (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said it has notified U.S. health regulators of the safety of Truvia, which is made from the leaves of a shrub called stevia that is native to Paraguay. (Reporting by Martinne Geller, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ESTABLISH THE SAFETY OF REBIANA, A SWEETENER FROM THE STEVIA PLANT

News Release
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ATLANTA, Ga., WAYZATA, Minn., May 15, 2008 - Research published electronically today in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology clearly establishes the safety of rebiana (common or usual name for high-purity Rebaudioside A from stevia) for general use to sweeten foods and beverages, according to experts at Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company.

Rebiana is the first consistent, high-purity sweetener composed of rebaudioside A, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf. Beginning in 2004, Cargill commissioned a rigorous safety evaluation program for rebiana in consultation with leading scientists.

Cargill, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, has developed rebiana as a natural, zero-calorie ingredient which will be marketed by Cargill under the brand name TRUVIA™.

"These newly published data complement the body of existing scientific research on steviol glycosides, the sweet components of the stevia leaf," said Leslie Curry, regulatory and scientific affairs director, Cargill Food and Ingredient Systems. "The rebiana research program affirmed positive safety data from earlier studies on purified steviol glycosides and addressed unresolved questions resulting from studies with crude stevia extracts."

"TRUVIA™ natural sweetener was developed to meet the strong consumer demand for a natural, zero calorie way to sweeten foods and beverages. Rebiana provides a new great tasting alternative that meets that demand," said Zanna McFerson, business director for Cargill Health and Nutrition. "The results of this research program pave the way to bring this long sought after sweetener to U.S. consumers."

Although stevia today is sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement, rebiana will be the first available sweetener for foods and beverages that has been purified from the stevia plant. Unlike many existing stevia products, which generally contain crude extracts of the plant, rebiana is a fully-characterized product that is consistent in quality and contains only the best-tasting components of the stevia leaf.

"We are pleased that these studies have proved definitively that rebiana is safe," said Dr. Rhona Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer of The Coca-Cola Company.

Study Results
The rebiana safety evaluation program included metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies, general and multi-generational safety studies, intake studies and human studies. Cargill sponsored the studies to affirm earlier safety findings for purified steviol glycosides, and to confirm that rebiana is broken down by the body in the same way as stevioside, which has been studied extensively. Rebaudioside A -- the main component of rebiana -- is nearly identical in chemical structure to stevioside.

Study	Top-line Findings	Implications
Metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies	Metabolism of rebaudioside A is similar to that of stevioside	Safety data from stevioside studies can be applied to rebiana The safety of rebiana is supported by a large database of scientific research
General safety	No negative effects on general health associated with doses equivalent to a 150-lb person drinking more than 2,000 8-ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage No treatment-related effects on any organ, including kidneys and male reproductive organs	Supports safety of high-purity steviol glycoside ingredients, including rebiana Refutes outdated studies suggesting adverse effects of stevia or stevioside on male reproductive organs (1985, 1999) or on kidney function (1988, 1994, 1997) Rebiana does not affect general health or organ function
Multi-generational/ reproductive toxicology	Daily consumption equivalent to a 150-lb person drinking nearly 1,000 8-ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage had no negative effects on general health, reproduction, growth or development of adults or their offspring	Refutes studies (1968, 1985, 1998, 1999) suggesting potential adverse effects on male or female fertility, or health of offspring Rebiana does not affect reproductive health or health of offspring
Chronic blood pressure study	Daily consumption of 1,000 mg rebiana -- equivalent to drinking more than eight 8-ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage every day -- for 4 weeks had no significant blood pressure effects in healthy subjects with normal or low-normal blood pressure	Addresses questions raised by two Taiwanese studies (2000 and 2003) suggesting that stevioside (purity unknown) lowered blood pressure in people with essential hypertension Rebiana does not affect blood pressure
Chronic blood sugar study	Daily consumption of 1,000 mg of rebiana -- equivalent to drinking more than eight 8-ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage every day -- for 16 weeks did not affect blood sugar control and was well-tolerated in people with type 2 diabetes	Addresses questions raised by a single-dose study (2004) suggesting that stevioside reduced levels of blood sugar after meals in people with type 2 diabetes Rebiana does not affect blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes

• In safety studies, daily consumption of rebiana equivalent to a 150-lb person drinking between 1,000 and 2,000 8-ounce servings of rebiana-sweetened beverage had no negative effects on the general health, reproduction, growth or development of adults or their offspring.
  
  
• In clinical studies, daily consumption of 1,000 mg rebiana -- equivalent to consuming 29 packets of sweetener or drinking approximately eight 8-ounce servings of a rebiana-sweetened beverage every day for 4 or 16 weeks -- had no effect on blood pressure in healthy subjects with normal or low-normal blood pressure; or on blood sugar control in subjects with type 2 diabetes.

For more information, visit www.allaboutrebiana.com.

About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 450 sparkling and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola®, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke®, Fanta®, Sprite®, Coca-Cola Zero®, vitaminwater®, Powerade®, Minute Maid® and Georgia® Coffee. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.5 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

About Cargill
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., Cargill is a privately held international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 158,000 employees in 66 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed. For more information about Cargill, visit: www.cargill.com.