INNOVATION

Stevia is a natural origin sweetener extracted from the Stevia Rebaudiana plant, native to South America where tribes have used it for over 1500 years. It is 150-200 times sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a long way!

Stevia is a high quality, safe sweetener and for decades high purity stevia extracts have been approved for use in foods and beverages in many countries including Japan. In the last five years, leading food safety and regulatory agencies across the world have issued positive safety opinions on the safe use of purified stevia extracts in foods and beverages.

These include the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), the French ANSES (National Agency for the Security of Food, the Environment and the Work), the Food Standards of Australia New Zealand, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and most recently the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Pre-clinical and clinical studies show that the use of stevia extracts is safe for the general population including people with diabetes, children and pregnant populations and that there are no known side effects or allergies.

We chose Stevia as our key sweetener because of its natural origin and:

•  the fact that has no calories, no carbohydrates,
•  scores zero on both the glycemic index (GI) and on glycemic load (GL),
•  induces a lower blood glucose rise after their consumption compared to sugar-containing foods/drinks, it assists in blood glucose control, and can help to control calorie intake as part of a calorie controlled diet,
•  Stevia is recognized as diabetic friendly.

Caffeine from green coffee beans is caffeine from essentially unroasted beans.

When coffee beans are roasted, the natural ingredient chlorogenic acid present in the bean is reduced. This is a key component of the green coffee bean, which is extremely beneficial for the human body, since:

• it can aid in weight loss, boosting metabolism and burning of fat,
• it can help to regulate blood sugar levels,
• it can improve concentration and help fight fatigue.

You can find more details about the safety assessment of caffeine in http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/150527

Many soft drinks, particularly colas, contain phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid. Green Cola does not contain any. Here is why?.

Phosphorus is present in the human body and, like calcium, is important for healthy bones. Phosphoric acid is found in food and is essential for the proper maintenance and growth of healthy bones and other tissues. As phosphorous is found in many everyday foods, it is rare for healthy people not to get enough. To much phosphorous can actually reduce the amount of calcium that the body absorbs.

It is advisable therefore to use phosphorus and the phosphoric acid found in many soft drinks, sparingly to reduce complications in the body. With Green Cola, as we don’t use phosphoric acid at all, that’s one less thing you have to worry about!