GIDC's Stevia

 Sweet but fit

 By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

Filipinos have sweet tooth. Which could explain why there are over 3.7 million cases of Type 2 diabetes in the country. The disease rose from the 11th spot to the 7th as the leading cause of death in the Philippines in ten years starting 2007 ‘til 2017. After a study of 78,000 hospitalized patients at the PGH, endocrinologist Dr. Memento Nicodemus found out that one in every seven Covid-19 cases has diabetes. Pre-existing diseases like diabetes can make people prone to Covid-19.

This grim picture has prompted the Glorious Industrial and Development Corp.(GDIC) to reach out to companies using white sugar as ingredient in their processed products. GDIC, through its founder and CEO Maura “Au" De Leon brought stevia into the country from Paraguay and cultivated the sweet-tasting plant while lengthily studying how it can be processed for mass consumption. Stevia thrives, mostly, in places with much sunshine and rain.

“After my sister’s health decline, I seriously considered manufacturing a wellness product (after dabbling in embroidery and a number of household products) using extract from the stevia plant (stevia rebaudiana bertoni) of the sunflower family. We are a family of farmers and it took us three years to let stevia adopt to Philippine soil. GDIC is not only the pioneer in stevia farming but has also produced the best tasting stevia powder in the country. But it was not easy at the start, the venture went through odds with me almost giving up.

“In 2004, I started planting at my father’s farm in Bulacan. But it was only in 2008 that I got to market our product, the same year we got our certificate of product registration. Yet, it was only in 2019 that people used stevia as sweetener in earnest. Initially, Filipinos did not relate well with stevia. Our FDA certification must have given Pinoys the confidence to patronize our product.

“With the pandemic, people became more health-conscious. But at the start of the pandemic, I thought we would lose our business and that if we survive it, our stevia venture would be seeing its returns in 2025. Surprisingly, the adversity pushed the business rolling in the upsweep,” revealed De Leon.

Through the years, GDIC has been active participants in trade shows. They have also been generous in giving assistance through training, seeds, fertilizer, as well as tech know-how to farmers and planters who help them grow stevia plants in Bulacan and Zamboanga.

“We have around 200,000 plants now from our farms in Bocaue and Tandig. But everything all started from scratch. During our first harvest, we tried squeezing the plants through a juicer. When we produced many galloons, we tried sun drying the juice to get its powder form. Then we fed the excess plants to our chickens and swine. When our galloons increased, we put them in cold storage until we brought a sample to the DOST, who in turn taught us how to produce it in powder form.

“White sugar is the food of cancer cells and this is usually used in cakes and beverages, among many others. When your system gets used to stevia, you will lose interest in ordinary sweets. To educate people about sweeteners, you need to talk to their fear factors sometimes,” she continued.

To date, GDIC’s Sweet & Fit sweetener has spawned other products using stevia like the Glorious Blend coffee mixes, peanut butter, cookies, chocolate, and ice cream. They also have a bake shop that showcases sweet foods but containing a low glycemic index.

“At present, we have 200 workers having gainful employment and our research and development section has come up with five more products well suited to the pandemic. Soon, we will have chocolate bars using stevia. And GDIC is ISO-certified twice,” De Leon proudly stated at the close of our online colloquy.

The Dutch label products now use stevia as sweetener. You may also use it in your cooking as food enhancer. Like coconut and moringa, other parts of the plant can be useful. The dried leaves are used as tea while it's stem are developed into bath products. Sweet and Fit Stevia is also being used in the dietary kitchens of hospitals like the Philippine Heart Center, and at the Manila Hotel, and the Lourdes Hospital. Also, in all variants of Better Than Ice Cream (BTIC) and Lily’s Peanut Butter Life.

For more detailed information, simply log-on to their Web site, www.gidc.com.