Although stevia was hailed as a definitive answer for food and drink makers looking for a zero-calorie, natural alternative to sugar andcalcium citrate malate 1250 mg high fructose corn syrup, it has been plagued by ongoing taste issues, such as lingering bitterness and a licorice-like aftertaste. However, stevia works well in many products, so the number of new foods and drinks sweetolly sleep supplementsened with it has continued to increase, particularly as consumers seek to cut sugar.###Taste is just one hurdle for manufacturers as the naturalness of stevia extracts produced by fermentation of sugars has been called into question — and naturalbenefits of zinc gluconate for skinness is one of stevia’s main advantages over most other zero-calorie sweeteners. PureCircle claims its new ingredients are non-GMO and directly derived from the stevia leelemental zinc in zinc bisglycinateaf, which could go a long way toward allaying consumer fears.###So far, the inability to scale up production of the best-tasting steviol glycosides has limited their use. Coca-Cola announced late last year that it had identified a sugar-like glycoside that it intended to use in a stevia-sweetened version of its namesake beverage, which will be launched in a small market outside of the U.S. in the first half of this year. Regardless of how the trial performs, the company said full-scale prodbest magnesium citrate supplement for constipationuction of the soda is still a few years away because of challenges in producing enough of the sweetener.###PureCircle’s dual approach — breeding plants with higher quantities of Reb D and Reb M, while also improving the taste of Reb A — could remove this market barrier. And as Coca-Cola’s ongoing efforts show, despite challenges, companies have not given up on stevia.