Stevia: Versatile Sweetener and Effective Medicinal

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a fascinating plant that is native to the areas near the rain forests of northeastern Paraguay.  In its natural habitat, it grows in groupings of two or three small shrubs on the edges of marshes and grasslands, in relatively infertile, acidic sands with shallow water tables. Paraguayan professors of botany believe it has been in constant use by the native peoples of this region for more than 1500 years, and perhaps as long as 2000 years. From ancient times, the indigenous Guarani people in what is now Paraguay used it to freshen their breath and to sweeten and mellow the strong taste of yerba maté tea, as well as other herbal preparations. No one knows when its unique medicinal qualities were first discovered, but this, too, must have been in antiquity. It is reported that in the pre-Columbian era, Guarani herbalists or medicine men would give it to those experiencing either physical or emotional fatigue or the condition we now call diabetes. These early inhabitants of the area also knew about its tonic action on the stomach.^[1] A few leaves in hot water or one tea bag containing ground stevia will provide relief to an upset stomach in minutes.

Applied topically, it … is effective in … softening the skin and reducing wrinkles when used as a skin or facial mask.

It would not have taken much experimentation for the Guarani to discover that when the leaves are cooked in water, a concentrated, dark brownish, intensely sweet, licorice-flavored liquid with powerful healing properties is formed. For certain conditions of listlessness, lethargy, and dizziness, ingesting this liquid restores energy and mental alertness. Applied topically, it can aid in healing cuts or sores on the body or lips, or within the mouth, and it is effective in healing numerous skin problems, as well as softening the skin and reducing wrinkles when used as a skin or facial mask.

In modern times, stevia leaves, liquid concentrate, and extracted glycosides have been used for numerous biological and medicinal effects. Their efficacy has been discussed in various studies, some of which focused on their antibacterial, anticariogenic, anti-edema, antifungal, antihyperglycemic, hypotensive, and peroxidase-inhibiting effects, as well as their ability to stimulate protease production.^[2]

The Guarani originally called the plant ka’a eirete, which means “herb- or leaf-like honey,” due to its sweet taste. Their current name for it is ka’a he’ê, meaning “sweet herb.” When the Spanish Conquistadors invaded and conquered Paraguay, the plant also acquired the name azucar-ca’a, or “sugar herb.”  (Azúcar is Spanish for “sugar.”) While it cannot be proven from existing records, it is believed – and would be completely logical – that the Conquistadors sent stevia leaves back to Spain, as a special treat for the Spanish royalty and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Had the Conquistadors been able to solve the unique problems of the large-scale cultivation of stevia at that time in history, perhaps stevia would have been in widespread use throughout Europe before the start of the seventeenth century.  One can only imagine the difference this would have made in the dietary habits of Europeans and, eventually, Americans.  The Western world would have experienced significantly less obesity and diabetes, ^[3] and we would have a healthier world population.

Correct pronunciation

When English speakers see the word stevia, they often want to pronounce it STEE vee uh. However, it is a Spanish word, and the “e” is pronounced like the “e” in met. Therefore, the correct pronunciation is STE vee ah. Either pronunciation is easily recognizable and understood throughout the world.

The genus stevia was named after Pedro Jaime Esteve, a Spanish professor of botany who died in 1566.  This genus contains over 200 species, of which Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni – named for Moisés Santiago Bertoni, who published the first known description of the plant in 1899 – is the only one with sweet leaves.

Description of the plant

At maturity, stevia is a small shrub, growing to a height of two and a half to three feet. It is an herb of the Compositae or Asteraceae (daisy) family, producing small white blossoms at the terminals of the stems, arranged in panicles. The fruit or seed is an achene, so it ripens without bursting its sheath. The seeds are centered within tiny, curved, stick-like fibers in the shape of a parasol. They are dispersed by the slightest movement of the air, whether caused by the wind or the passing of a human, an animal, or a bird. However, there is generally only about a 10 percent germination rate from planted seeds, so the main method of propagation today is from cuttings or volunteer seedlings.

The sweetness of the small, lanceolated, obtuse leaves depends on the amount of sunlight the plant receives.  The longer the day and the brighter the sunlight, the sweeter will be the leaf.  A quality leaf can be 30 times sweeter than sugar and contain 100 nutrients.^[3](p31)

The plant is delicate and, when cultivated, requires care from the moment the seed is placed upon loose soil or the cutting is planted to the day of harvest. Proper temperatures, humidity, cultivation methods, and frequency of irrigation are critical to its survival. While it is grown successfully in other parts of the world, stevia thrives in the warm, humid climate of the subtropics. Many Americans have attempted to grow stevia in their home gardens or as an indoor plant, but this can prove too difficult for the novice gardener and will rarely produce high-quality leaves. The first frost of winter will kill the plant, as will the very hot dry days of summer. Nevertheless, stevia plants can now be purchased at plant nurseries throughout the U.S., and people may find it fun to grow one in the kitchen or outside in a sunny location. It is a delightful experience to pick a stevia leaf from one’s own plant, place it upon the tongue, and enjoy the delicate sweet taste. Home gardeners will also appreciate the fact that stevia is a very rapidly growing plant that is delicious in salads or as an herb in cooking.

Stevia’s active compounds

Stevia leaves contain many important nutrients that are vital for proper functioning of the body. Some of the nutrients discovered thus far include ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and the minerals calcium, chromium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, silicon, sodium, and zinc. Stevia leaves also contain vegetable fat, fiber, inulin, protein, and numerous intensely sweet glycosides, such as stevioside and rebaudioside A (Reb A).

The leaves also possess flavonoid polyphenols – including quercetrin, two forms of quercetin, rutin, limonene, luteolin, and kaempferol – and essential oils.^[4,5]  In addition, studies have shown that they contain growth hormones (gibberellins) that stimulate the growth of certain vegetable- and fruit-producing plants.^[4](p37) Stevia leaves and whole leaf stevia products, including concentrates, offer various healing benefits when taken internally and used topically.

Extracting the nutrients

The nutrients and the sweet glycosides found in the leaves are easily extracted in water, and more rapidly in hot water. It is no different than steeping tea. If using a tea bag containing ground stevia leaves, simply place the bag in a cup and add hot water, allowing it to steep for a few minutes. Or, if you have your own plant growing at home, place a few leaves in a cup and follow the same procedure. The sweet tea can be enjoyed as is, or added to any other beverage for both sweetness and added nutrition.

A stevia concentrate can be made by cooking the leaves in water until the desired consistency is obtained and then filtering out the leaf residue.  Stevia leaves can be dried and stored for months or even years and then used.  If you hold either a fresh or a dry leaf in your mouth for several minutes, your saliva will extract the nutrients and the glycosides, thereby providing a delicious, sweet taste and a pleasant, refreshing feeling in the mouth. Tobacco users have stated that they were able to break the habit by simply placing stevia leaves in their mouths whenever a cigarette or a chew was desired. Why it was effective is unknown, but the people who reported the results were very pleased.

History of stevia

During World War II, sugar was rationed in both the U.S. and Great Britain, and these two countries began investigating stevia as a replacement for the sweetener. However, the war ended before the necessary agricultural and processing facilities could be developed, and so the plans were abandoned. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) had attempted to grow stevia but failed in their project, concluding that stevia was nothing more than a “botanical curiosity.”^[3](p38)  With the demand for sugar-laden sweets intensifying, the U.S. renewed its subsidies of sugar cane and sugar beets.

Nevertheless, in the 1950s, a scientific branch of the U.S. Public Health Service based in Bethesda, Maryland, published its research on stevia. For the first time, the process of ion exchange had been utilized to obtain nearly pure stevioside. This research confirmed the glycoside’s intense sweetness and its molecular structure, originally reported by French chemists Bridel and Lavieille, who were the first to isolate stevioside and rebaudioside, in 1931.^[3](p38)

The Japanese became intensely interested in stevia following WW II. Because they imported 100 percent of their sugar, they saw stevia as a potential cash crop for their farmers and a new manufacturing industry for their country. In 1954, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture began to organize the agricultural production of stevia, initially in Paraguay. The Paraguayan farmers were jubilant to have a market for stevia, but their elation soon turned to despair because once the Japanese learned the techniques for growing the delicate plant, they preferred to grow it themselves in greenhouses and in suitable areas in southern Japan.  In 1956, the Japanese government provided the needed resources for the toxicological evaluation of stevia. The research commenced under the direction of Professor Hiroshi Mitsuhashi at Hokkaido University, and Japanese scientists soon developed and patented new and more efficient methods of identifying, extracting, and separating the various sweet glycosides from stevia leaves as well as verifying its safety.^[3](p38-39)

The safety data from the scientific laboratories of Japan was taken into consideration, along with the previous research from Europe, which had commenced in 1908 in Germany when P. Rasenack first isolated the sweet principle in crystalline form, then called a glucoside. Karl Dietrich had published his chemical analysis of stevia in Chemische Zeitung in 1909, and in 1913, research continued in the laboratories of Antwerp, Wiesbaden, and Hamburg.

All of this, coupled with the research of Bridel and Lavieille in 1931 and evidence of centuries of safe use in South America, was sufficient to enable the Japanese government to make a decision. By 1976, the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare had accepted the validity of the research and approved the new sweetener for use in both foods and beverages.

The demand for stevia was so great and land so limited in Japan by the mid-1980s that they had to take seedlings to China, Korea, and Indonesia, and persuade farmers to grow stevia plants for them. By 1987, there were 11 extraction factories established in Japan that were producing “stevia crystals,” which was what the extract was called at that time. These “crystals” were being used in numerous food and beverage products.^[6]

Stevia is introduced into the U.S.

I first learned about stevia in 1982 from a young Peace Corps worker who had just returned from Paraguay and brought a few leaves with him. Their delightfully sweet taste was incredible. I then read some of the published research from Japan and decided that Americans needed stevia. I left my 15-year career as one of the founders of the dialysis and kidney transplant program in Arizona and a pioneer in the national End Stage Renal Disease Program and started a new career that is now beginning its thirty-first year. I went to Paraguay to learn about stevia and was also introduced to several of the other wonderfully healing plants native to that land. They were so incredibly effective that I set up a small business in Paraguay to purchase the various herbs from the growers or to harvest them directly from the rain forest. We then cured, prepared, packaged, and sold the leaves and tree bark in natural food stores back in the U.S.

My original stevia products were a stevia tea (ground leaves in tea bags) and a liquid concentrate made by cooking the leaves in water and filtering out the leaf residue. Of the original herbs we brought to America in 1982, stevia and yerba maté have become the most sought after by consumers and food and beverage manufacturers alike. Both these plants are highly beneficial to the human body.

Table-top sweeteners

To produce table-top sweeteners that consumers can use in place of sugar, the glycosides must be extracted from the leaves and separated from all of the other compounds. The extraction begins with water, but then much more sophisticated processes are required.  All of the nutrients, including the chlorophyll, must be removed from the glycosides, and then the desired glycosides must be separated from all of the remaining ones. To accomplish this, many manufacturers use a variety of solvents, chemicals, and alcohols, including ethanol and methanol, leaving a residual amount in the finished product, which is a semi-white to white powder, the natural color of the glycosides.  Some stevia processors have developed a method that uses only water and a nanofiltration system, which requires very little, if any, ethanol in the final stage of separation. Regardless of the manufacturing process utilized to extract the stevia glycosides, the result is a sweetener that is far better for the human body than any artificial sweeteners on the market today.

While some manufacturers produce the single isolate Reb A, others produce a combination of specific glycosides. The taste profile of a blend of naturally occurring glycosides is generally considered superior to that of any single glycoside. Because these glycosides can be approximately 300 times sweeter than sugar, they must be blended with a carrier in order to produce a table-top sweetener that can be sprinkled onto foods or into beverages.

A wise consumer will always read the product label.

Some, but not all, manufacturing and extraction processes result in a stevia extract that has a bitterness and lingering undesirable aftertaste. Various masking agents have been developed to overcome this problem. In such instances, the carrier used is often another type of sweetener. A wise consumer will always read the product label.

Some extraction processes result in a flavor that does not require masking, and the carrier has the primary function of providing bulk, so that the product can be used in a similar fashion to sugar. Our table-top sweetener uses inulin, a natural vegetable-based soluble fiber that is also a primary food supply for the good intestinal bacteria, as the carrier. We also market a pure stevia extract without any carrier. One-third of a teaspoon of this extract will replace one cup of sugar in terms of its sweetness intensity. To sweeten a beverage, such as a cup of coffee, with the pure stevia glycosides, one would touch the tip of a toothpick into the stevia extract and stir it into the beverage.

Various brands of table-top sweeteners will have different taste profiles and sweetness intensities, due to differing manufacturing processes and carriers utilized.  If a consumer does not like the taste of one brand, another should be tried.

GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status

After the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994, stevia could be marketed in the U.S. as a dietary supplement. However, the FDA forbade manufacturers and marketing companies from informing consumers, either on the label or in advertising, that stevia tasted sweet or enhanced the flavor of food and beverages.  In 2008, our company, Wisdom Natural Brands (makers of SweetLeaf®), was the first to obtain GRAS status for our combination of stevia glycosides, quickly followed by Cargill for its Rebiana, which was a single isolate of the Reb A glycoside.  Merisant then obtained GRAS status for Pure Via™. Each of these companies also obtained an FDA “no questions” letter, meaning that the FDA had no questions regarding the conclusions of the various scientists who studied the products, and that the agency concluded they were safe for human consumption.

As of this writing, about nine brands of stevia have obtained GRAS status and the “no questions” letter, and about a dozen are awaiting the FDA letter, having obtained GRAS status. The stevia brands that have achieved a GRAS classification are sold as sweeteners and can be used as additives or ingredients in foods and beverages, but all other brands must be marketed as dietary supplements and can be used as ingredients only in products marketed as dietary supplements.

Cooking and baking with stevia

Dry stevia leaves can be crumbled and sprinkled onto foods in the same manner as any spice or seasoning, to add both sweetness and zest. Ground leaves can be added to a wide variety of dishes, including salads, soups, sauces, stews, beans, applesauce, hot cereals, and baked or mashed potatoes.

Stevia in its pure extract form (approximately 300 times sweeter than sugar) and as a table-top sweetener can be used in both cooking and baking. It is stable in both very hot and freezing temperatures. However, stevia does not caramelize or brown, and a bulking food (such as applesauce, tofu, or yogurt) must be used to make up for the loss of the volume contributed to a recipe by sugar. Several stevia cookbooks are available to help people learn to cook and bake with stevia.

Cooking with stevia is not the same as cooking with other sweeteners, nor are different brands equal in their taste profile.  However, stevia sweeteners can be used in any food or beverage that typically uses sugar or an artificial sweetener.

It is wise to experiment a little when learning to cook with a stevia product. Everyone’s taste buds are different, so adjust quantities to suit your own taste preference. If too little is used, the food will not be sweet enough; however, if too much is used, the taste will be too strong, or even bitter. The right amount will provide a delightful sweetness.

A few companies have recently introduced products in which stevia glycosides are blended with sugar, thereby providing a sweeter sugar while offering reduced calories because less of the product is used to achieve the desired sweetness. However, since the manufacturing processes for the stevia glycosides as well as the modality of blending or bonding the two sweeteners are different, each brand will have a different taste profile and calorie count.

Medicinal benefits of stevia

Informed doctors, scientists, nutritionists, dietitians, and health professionals agree that stevia is an extraordinary sweetener because it can actually generate better health and well-being. Stevia, in its whole leaf forms or as a table-top sweetener, is appropriate for all people and is especially suited to diabetics and people who need to control sugar ingestion.

The sweet glycosides provide zero calories and zero carbohydrates, as well as having a glycemic index of zero. That is why stevia is an ideal sweetener for people with diabetes or those desiring to lose excess fat or maintain current weight. Research has shown that stevia, ingested regularly, provides growth suppression toward several oral bacteria, thus reducing dental caries.^[7,8]  Numerous studies have reported a reduction in hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) following daily ingestion of whole leaf stevia products and stevia extract. However, stevia does not seem to affect normal blood glucose levels.  Stevia also stimulates insulin secretion via a direct action upon the beta cells of the pancreas.^[9,10]  There is evidence that it raises blood glucose in hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) patients.^[11,12]  It is the conclusion of food scientists that stevia extract (glycosides) used in normal amounts for sweetening can be ingested without restriction by people with normal blood sugar as well as by diabetics.* Dr. Jan Geuns, world-renowned stevia research scientist, observes: “It is not carcinogenic, not cariogenic and no allergenicity problems seem to be known.”^[13]  He states that stevia and stevia extract (glycosides) are also safe for phenylketonuria (PKU) patients.

Studies have shown that stevioside can also reduce high blood pressure. In a two-year study by Hsieh et al., it was demonstrated that the stevioside group showed significant decreases in blood pressure.  Based on self-monitoring, patients noted that these decreases commenced about one week after the treatments started and persisted throughout the study.^[14] Regarding this study, Geuns notes:  “There was no influence on heart rate and there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects between control and treated groups. The QOL [quality of life] of the stevioside group significantly increased as seen by better physical functioning, emotional and physical role limitation, body pain, general health perception, vitality and social functioning. No influence on mental health was observed.”^[13](p114) In another highly regarded study, the conclusion of the researchers was that “stevioside enjoys a dual positive effect by acting as an antihyperglycemic and a blood pressure-lowering substance; effects that may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.”^[9](p372)

In a one-year study by Chan et al., in which stevioside was administered to 60 hypertensive patients (250 mg three times per day), it was noted that after three months the systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased, and this effect persisted during the entire year of the study.^[15]  Geuns discusses their findings: “Although blood pressure was decreased, the use of the stevioside had no effect on male sexual performance. Blood biochemistry parameters including lipid and glucose showed no significant changes.  The authors concluded that stevioside is a well tolerated and effective compound that may be considered as an alternative or supplementary therapy for patients with hypertension.”^13](p113-14)

Stevia extract and its constituents can therefore … improve memory formation and consolidation, as well as mental health.

Mental acuity

A patent application was submitted on October 29, 2010, by a pharmaceutical company, for “a novel nutriceutical composition containing stevia extract or its constituents,” which would serve “as active ingredient(s) to improve cognitive functions, such as learning, memory and alertness, as well as relieving psychosocial pressure.”16  Among other things found in their studies, the researchers discovered that “mice treated with 150 mg/kg of Stevia extract showed a significantly better learning and memory performance than their age-matched controls.” The application also states that “Stevia extract and its constituents can therefore activate hippocampal functions and improve memory formation and consolidation, as well as mental health.” Among the claimed mental benefits in the patent application are enhanced learning, language processing, problem solving, intellectual functioning, attention and concentration, memory, and mental alertness; reduced mental fatigue; increased resistance or tolerance to stress; and increased ability to relax in normal healthy individuals and to attain good-quality sleep. As one who has ingested stevia virtually every day for 30 years, I can attest to these conclusions.

As a result of the estimated 1500 published studies, it seems apparent that stevia, either in whole leaf form or as extracted glycosides, is a sweetener that improves health and well-being. When stevia significantly reduces the current dominance of sucrose and artificial sweeteners in commercially available food and beverages, as well as becoming the table-top sweetener of choice in homes, the cost of health care in the U.S., Europe, and the world will be drastically reduced.

NOTES

* The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) recommends that 4 mg of steviol per kilo of body weight is safe for daily ingestion. Steviol is one of three metabolic breakdown aglycones of stevia glycosides. Therefore, about 12 mgs of stevia glycosides per kilo of body weight is safe.  (It is stevia glycosides that are used as sweeteners in various products; not free standing steviol.) This allows a 100 times safety factor.

In accordance with the concept established by JECFA, it has been determined that in Europe the combination of stevia glycosides or any single glycoside will be referred to as steviol glycosides rather than using the terminology stevia extract, which has been the practice in the U.S. since 1995, when stevia glycosides were first allowed by the FDA to be marketed as a dietary supplement. Stevia extract refers to the pure glycosides extracted from stevia leaves.  Only the terminology used in these countries is different. The products are the same.Author’s note: The medical studies referred to above are not intended to imply that stevia in any of its available forms should be used to replace or augment physician-prescribed medication. The intent of this data is simply to show that stevia is safe and is not known to be harmful to people suffering any of these conditions. Stevia can be enjoyed by everyone.

About the Author

James A. May is the founder and CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, maker of SweetLeaf® brand stevia products and Wisdom of the Ancients® herbal teas.  He is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on stevia and yerba maté. May challenged a number of government regulations over the years before his company became the first to receive FDA GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status for stevia products in 2008. In May 2010, May was the first to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Stevia World International and in March 2011, he was presented with the first American Herbal Products Association Visionary Award.

REFERENCES:

1. Report prepared in 1991 for James A. May under the direction of Dr. José Martino Vargas, General Director of the National Institute of Technology and Standardization of Paraguay.  Written by Dr. Laura Fracchia, Instrumental Analysis Laboratory, and Dr. Miguel González Moreira, Director of the Central Analysis Laboratory.  Document on file.
2. Kinghorn AD, ed.  Stevia:  The Genus Stevia.  New York, NY:  Taylor & Francis; 2002:61.
3. May, JA.  The Miracle of Stevia.  New York, NY:  Kensington Publishing Corp; 2003:29-30.
4. Kinghorn AD, Soejarto DD.  Current status of stevioside as a sweetening agent for human use.  In:  Wagner H, Hikino H, Farnsworth NR, eds.  Economic and Medicinal Plant Research, Vol. I.  Orlando, FL:  Academic Press; 1985:6-9, 37.
5. Rajbhandari A, Roberts MF.  The flavonoids of Stevia rebaudiana leaves.  J Nat Prod.  1983;46(2):194-95.
6. Food Chemical Department, The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Japan).  List of Food Additives Excluding Chemical Synthetics.  1989:250-73.
7. Yabu M, Takase M, Toda K, et al.  [Studies on Stevioside, natural sweetener. Effect on the growth of some oral microorganisms (author’s translation)].  Hiroshima Daigaku Shigaku Zasshi.  1977;9(1):12-17.
8. Fujita H, Edahiro T.  Safety and utilization of stevia sweetener.  Food Industry.  1979;22(22):1-8.
9. Jeppesen PB, Gregersen S, Rolfsen SE, et al.  Antihyperglycemic and blood pressure-reducing effects of stevioside in the diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rat. Metabolism. 2003;52(3):37-78.
10. Gregersen S, Jeppesen PB, Holst JJ, Hermansen K.  Antihyperglycemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects.  Metabolism.  Jan 2004;53(1):73-76.
11. Alvares M, Bazzone RB, Godoy GL, et al.  Hypoglycemic effect of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. First Brazilian Seminar on Stevia Rebaudiana.  Instituto Technologico de Alimentos.  Campinas, Brazil:  June 25-26, 1981:13.
12. Oviédo CA, Franciani GV, Moreno R, et al.  Acción hipoglicemiante de la Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni.  Abstract. In:  Rodriguez RR, Ebling FJG, Henderson I, eds.  Seventh Congress of the International Diabetes Federation, 23 – 28 August 1970, Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Amsterdam, Netherlands:  International Diabetes Foundation/Excerpta Medica Foundation.
13. Geuns, JMC.  The safety of stevioside used as a sweetener.  In:  Geuns JMC, Buyse J, eds.  Proceedings of the First Symposium:  The Safety of Stevioside.  KULeuven, April 16, 2004:81,85.
14. Hsieh MH, Chan P, Sue YM, et al.  Efficacy and tolerability of oral stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension:  a two year, randomized, placebo-controlled study.  Clin Ther.  2003 Nov;25(11):2797-808.
15. Chan P, Tomlinson B, Chen YJ, et al.  A double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effectiveness and tolerability of oral stevioside in human hypertension.  Br J Clin Pharmacol.  2000 Sep;50(3):215-20.
16. Patent Application No. 12/745,421.  Novel Nutraceutical Compositions Containing Stevia Extract or Stevia Extract Constituents and Uses Thereof.  Pub date:  February 17, 2011.

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Published in the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health & Healing
Spring 2012 Volume 36 Number 1
Copyright © 2012 Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc.®
All Rights Reserved Worldwide