NOW Foods Stevia Extract

NOW Foods Stevia Extract is a natural herbal extract that is intended for dietary supplement purposes only. Stevia rebaudiana is a natural herb that grows in Asia and South America.

• Pleasant Tasting Herb
• Non-Bitter Aftertaste
• Vegetarian Product

What is Stevia rebaudiana?
Stevia is an herb indigenous to Paraguay and Brazil that grows 2--3 feet tall and resembles mint in appearance. The South American native Guarani Indians used this green "sweet herb" they called "kaa he-he" for centuries before a European botanist named M.S. Bertoni first learned of this unique plant from the native guides while exploring Paraguay in 1887. Though prior to the early 1900s Stevia was a plant harvested in the wild it soon thereafter was being grown in abundance on plantations. Sometime between 1918 and 1921 the USDA was introduced to this wonderfully sweet herb but because of political and other interests Stevia was not accepted as a natural sweetener. The compounds in Stevia that give the herb its sweet taste called Steviosides were isolated by French scientists in 1931. Since the 1970s Japan has approved and used Stevia extracts as a sweetener in everything from ice cream to soft drinks. Today in the USA our FDA still has not approved Stevia as a sweetener. However, since the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, they have approved it as a dietary supplement.

How is NOW's Stevia produced?
NOW's stevia extract is produced utilizing a patent-pending process which involves extracting from stevia leaves using only water and alcohol. The resulting extract is treated with a vegetarian-source enzyme (glucosyl transferase) to reduce the licorice-like aftertaste of regular stevia extracts. The following are not used and not allowed: pesticides, fumigants, irradiation, other solvents, sulfur dioxide. There are no carriers or flow agents added to the extract other than what we claim on the label. The resulting extract contains no less than 80% Glucosylsteviosides as measured by HPLC testing.

The Stevia Glycerite liquid is now much thicker than it was. Why?
NOW has increased the percentage of Glycerine to help maintain the freshness of the product. Glycerine acts as a natural preservative, as well as having a nice sweet taste, but is low on the glycemic index listing (which shows how much certain foods affect blood sugar).

Should I be concerned that my Stevia Liquid Extract has become cloudy?
Stevia should not be cloudy and it is very rare for this to occur. This usually will occur due to some kind contamination:

1. Introduction of another interacting substance

2. Bacterial growth due to alcohol evaporation. Please discard the product.

NOW's Mission
The NOW mission is - To provide value in products and services that empower people to lead healthier lives. NOW Foods is an award-winning and highly respected manufacturer of vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements and natural foods.

In 1948, with the natural food and supplement industry in its infancy, entrepreneur Paul Richard paid $900 for the purchase of Fearn Soya Foods—a Chicago based manufacturer of grain and legume-based products. This began a six-decade legacy of providing health-seeking consumers with high-quality, affordable nutrition products.

History of NOW
In 1968, NOW Foods was founded under the belief that good health was not a luxury available only to the wealthy. For the past forty years, NOW has made it their life's work to offer health food and nutritional supplements of the highest quality, at prices that are fair and affordable to all those who seek them. Today, NOW Foods is one of the top-selling brands in health foods stores, an award-winning manufacturer, a respected advocate of the natural product industry, and a leader in the fields of nutritional science and methods development. And while NOW has grown considerably over the past four decades, one thing has never changed – NOW's commitment to providing products and services that empower people to lead healthier lives.

NOW Commitments

• Customer Focused and Information Driven - NOW believes that their products, services, and the decisions they make should be primarily influenced by the desires and needs of NOW customers. The decisions that NOW makes should be based on accurate information and therefore NOW places a high value on knowledge and learning within their organization.
• Quality and Value Oriented - Acting in the best interest of NOW customers, NOW endeavors to produce the highest quality products at competitive prices. NOW's first priority is to maintain quality where it counts the most – in the products. NOW's exceptional cost-conscious team of employees then focuses their energies on driving costs down. Nurturing this competency of value drives NOW's ability to provide high quality products at the very best prices.
• Natural is Better - NOW is convinced that natural products are better than their synthetic counterparts and produce better results in human health. Therefore, wherever possible, NOW strives to provide products that contain natural ingredients because they are better for their customers.

NOW Science
NOW's experienced professional and technical staff formulates their products to be of the highest quality. NOW has a group of biochemists, chemists, nutritionists, and food technologists who review current science and nutritional parameters, and formulate our products to be effective for the intended use. NOW's structure/function claims are based on science for active ingredients, and on nutritional science for nutritional content. Serving sizes are based on doses from clinical studies and other published data. NOW's contemporary formulas are designed to meet the health and wellness needs of today’s consumers. NOW uses ingredients that have been tested for effectiveness in clinical trials and laboratory studies. The heart of NOW science is third party independent research. NOW investigates and review clinical studies and other lab studies conducted on their ingredients and their formulas. Best science is used to support best formulations which lead to best quality. NOW products are constantly being tested in clinical trials conducted at top universities and research centers around the country and in various parts of the world. NOW products are being tested to determine such things as effectiveness for joint support, quality of life for cancer patients, cardiovascular support, and athletic endurance. Effective products mean health and wellness benefits, which mean quality.

GMP Quality Assured
NOW’s GMP certification covers standard operating procedures, employee training, product specifications, expiration dating, vendor certifications and much more. Standard operating procedures include sampling and testing incoming materials according to NOW Foods specifications, inspecting manufacturing processes, and testing finished products to specifications. Tests include organoleptic evaluation (human senses such as sight, taste, smell), physical testing of tablets and capsules, chemical identity of ingredients, potency and contamination testing by the company’s in-house state-of-the-art analytical testing lab, as well as microbiological testing by NOW Foods’ in-house rapid analysis microbiological lab.