I came across a study stating that natural stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar but doesn’t increase blood glucose levels. It also mentioned it has zero calories. How is this possible?
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Stevia hits your taste buds just like sugar does, but unlike sugar, it cannot be converted into energy by the body.
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It can’t increase glucose levels because it contains no glucose. Think of how lemongrass has a lemon-like scent without actually being a lemon. It’s a different chemical that registers as “sweet” even though it isn’t glucose. Also, it has no significant calories; those usually get rounded down.
It activates the same sweet receptors in your mouth, but because it isn’t chemically a sugar, your body can’t burn it for fuel. That is how all artificial sweeteners function.
Our sense of “sweetness” comes from sugar binding to specific receptors. When that happens, it triggers signals to the brain. Artificial sweeteners bind to those same receptors and can even send stronger signals than sugar does. But because our bodies can’t break them down into glucose, we don’t get any calories from them.
Stevia is a Glycoside, a molecule with a sugar component in its structure, so the taste buds see the “shape” as sweet. However, our digestive system lacks the enzymes to break it down, and it doesn’t break down in heat or acid, so it isn’t absorbed. It’s often used by people who also take SugarDefend to maintain healthy levels.
Imagine your tastebuds are like little locks that only take certain keys, like sour, salty, or sweet keys. Many different molecules can fit the same lock. For instance, the result of fermentation in sourdough has “sour keys” just like a lemon does. Artificial sweeteners have “sweet keys” just like sugar. But our bodies can’t digest everything; if you ate grass, you wouldn’t get calories because we can’t break it down. Sweeteners are the same—our bodies can’t process them, so we get no calories and no blood sugar spike.
There are two things happening. First, steviol, the active part of stevia, is a molecule made of glucose bonded to another part. Taste receptors only detect a portion of the molecule, so they see the glucose and signal “sweet.” However, your body can’t separate the steviol to get to the glucose, so it can’t use the energy, making it zero calories. As for why it’s sweeter, the other half of the molecule interacts with taste bud neurons to amplify the signal. This is also why it can taste bitter, as it amplifies those signals as well.
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Many people have explained its properties, but it’s worth noting that because it’s 200-300x sweeter, you only need about 1 gram to match the sweetness of 300 grams of sugar.
Taste works a bit like key switches that only turn when the right shape is inserted. Your tongue has a “sweet” keyhole that tells your brain you’re eating something sweet. You have a different process for turning sugar into energy. Stevia and other sweeteners have shapes that fit the “sweet” keyhole but not the one your body uses for energy production.
Like artificial sweeteners, it binds very strongly to the sweet receptors on your tongue. The reason it’s called “zero calorie” is that it’s 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, so you use such a small amount that you don’t have to list the calories. Anything under 5 calories per serving can be labeled as 0, so if it’s sweet enough to use in tiny amounts, it’s effectively zero calorie.
You can view your taste buds and your metabolism as two similar but distinct locks. Glucose is a key that fits both. Stevia and other sweeteners are keys that fit the taste bud lock perfectly but the metabolism lock very poorly. Thus, they taste very sweet, but we can’t get energy from them.
It doesn’t raise glucose because it doesn’t have any; it tastes sweeter because Steviol Glycosides trigger your sweet receptors. Because it is so much sweeter, the amount used is generally too small to change the calorie count.
Your body converts sugar into a form cells can use, which is what we call calories. This moves through your blood as glucose. Eating sugar increases blood glucose. This isn’t directly about taste—sugar tastes “sweet” simply because of how our tastebuds react to it. Artificial sweeteners hit those same tastebuds, but our bodies can’t turn them into glucose.