Q: What is a pH level and what is the pH level of your Stevia products? Are your Stevia products acids or bases?
A: The pH level of a solution/element indicates its acidity. Solutions/elements with a pH of 0 to 6 are acids with a lower number indicating a higher acidity.
Solutions/elements with a pH of 8 to 14 are bases (a.k.a. alkaline) with a higher number indicating a stronger alkaline (base) level. Solutions/elements with a pH of 7 are neutral, i.e. neither acid nor base (water has a pH of 7).
- Stevioside (white powder) has a pH of +/- 6. That makes it an acid, but a very weak acid.
- SteviaClear™ has a pH of about +/- 8. That makes it a rather weak base (alkaline). The combination of the +/- 6 pH of
- Stevioside and 7 pH of water (the ingredients of SteviaClear™) make this alkaline.
- Stevia Concentrate is also a weak alkaline (base) with a pH of about +/- 8.
- Stevia Leaf (HoneyLeaf® powder) has a pH of about 6, which makes it a weak acid.
- Based on these pH numbers our Stevia products are essentially neutral in their acidity. They all fall just shy of a pH of 7 on either the acid or base side.
Q: Is Stevia safe for diabetics?
A: Yes.
Q: Where does stevia get its sweetness?
A: The stevia leaf contains glycosides, which are the sweet components of the leaf. The glycosides are known as steviosides. Steviosides include several sweet constituents including rebaudiosides, which are the sweetest compounds in the leaf.
Since rebaudiosides are 400 times sweeter than sugar they are more desirable than steviosides. Most stevia on the market is standardized to 80-90 percent stevioside. Rebaudiosides are generally not standardized. SweetLeaf Stevia is further standardized to 40% Rebaudioside. Therefore, our SweetLeaf Stevia Extract is at least 90 percent stevioside, of that 40% is rebaudioside. No other company is the United States uses this high quality product. You will taste the difference.
Q: If steviosides are 90 percent, what constitutes the other ten percent?
A: The other ten percent of SweetLeaf Stevia Extract are natural compounds of the whole stevia leaf that were not removed in the extraction process.
Q: What does the kosher certification of your Stevia products indicate?
A: The red apple with the K in the middle on the SweetLeaf Stevia products indicate that the raw materials and production of our products have been inspected by a rabbi to insure they meet kosher standards. In general, this ensures that the final kosher product has been isolated from any unkosher foods or possible cross contamination from any particles left in or on the processing equipment from prior manufacturing. In addition to the benefits to the kosher-minded consumer this is an additional quality assurance of our products.
Q: Who Kosher certifies your products?
A: Natural Food Certifiers headed by Rabbi Reuven Flamer out of Scarsdale, NY.
Q: What is a glycemic index rating?
A: The glycemic index ranks foods on how they affect our blood sugar levels. This index measures how much your blood sugar increases in the two or three hours after eating. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar, the lower the GI number the better.
Q: Why is the whole leaf powder green and the stevioside white? Do you use bleach to whiten the powder?
A: The whole leaf powder is in its natural, unprocessed state. It is just the leaves of the Stevia plant ground into powder, therefore it retains the natural green color.
The stevioside has gone through an extraction process to isolate the sweet glycosides of the leaves thereby making it a much sweeter product. This extraction process removes the naturally occuring chlorophyll and leaves the naturally white glycosides behind. No bleach or other chemical whiteners are used.
Q: How are the glycosides extracted from the Stevia leaves?
A: The stevioside is extracted from the leaf using a potato-derived alcohol based extraction process and membrane filtration. There is no alcohol in the finished product. It evaporates.
Q: Is there any relation between stevioside and genetic diseases?
A: There have not been any studies relating the use of stevioside with genetic disorders or diseases.
Q: What are the nutritional benefits of stevioside?
A: In addition to having a zero glycemic index, zero glycemic load and no calories, stevioside may reduce high blood sugar and lower blood pressure.
Q: Is stevioside absorbed in the body?
A: Contrary to what was previously thought, recent studies have suggested that a small amount of stevioside is absorbed in the body through the intestines during fecal reuptake.
