M. Suttajit et al., MUTAGENICITY AND HUMAN CHROMOSOMAL EFFECT OF STEVIOSIDE, A SWEETENER FROM STEVIA-REBAUDIANA BERTONI, Environmental health perspectives, 101, 1993, pp. 53-56
Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni have been popularly used as a swee
tener in foods and beverages for diabetics and obese people due to the
ir potent sweetener stevioside. In this report, stevioside and steviol
were tested for mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 a
nd TA100 and for chromosomal effects on cultured human lymphocytes. St
evioside was not mutagenic at concentrations up to 25 mg/plate, but sh
owed direct mutagenicity to only TA98 at 50 mg/plate. However, steviol
did not exhibit mutagenicity in either TA98 or TA100, with or without
metabolic activation. No significant chromosomal effect of stevioside
and steviol was observed in cultured blood lymphocytes from healthy d
onors (n = 5). This study indicates that stevioside and steviol are ne
ither mutagenic nor clastogenic in vitro at the limited doses; however
, in vivo genotoxic tests and long-term effects of stevioside and stev
iol are yet to be investigated.