Stevia is tropical, evergreen shrub that is native to Paraguay and Brazil, where it is more often referred to in the Guarani language as Ka'a He'e (sweet herb). Although South Americans have used the leaf of the plant since Pre-Columbian times and introduced the herb to travelling Europeans in the early 19th century, commercial cultivation of stevia didn’t begin until the 1900s.
Today, stevia is widely used around the world as a food additive and natural sweetener. In Japan, for example, the sugar-free versions of diet Coke and Wrigley's gum use stevia instead of sugar. Similarly, stevia is embraced as an alternative to sugar in Australia, China, South Korea, most of Europe and all of South America. In the US, however, stevia leaf has not yet been approved as a food additive or given GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status. The herb is, however, available as a dietary supplement.
