Stevia
The sweet part of the stevia leaf, 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. In 2024 regulators refused to let it into more foods, because toddlers would take in too much.
How common it is in UK food
UK supermarket foods declare E960 in their ingredients, by its code or its name. That is 0.9% of the 43,325 food products we hold an ingredient list for.
Where it turns up most
- Soft drinks and juices171 products6.5% of 2,627 in this aisle
- Cakes, biscuits and desserts36 products1.0% of 3,715 in this aisle
- Fruit, vegetables and salad29 products1.1% of 2,631 in this aisle
- Yoghurt, milk and dairy26 products1.1% of 2,273 in this aisle
Only 1.3% of these labels print “E960”. Most use the name: look for “steviol glycosides from stevia”.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Scan a barcode to check a food for stevia.
We name each additive in the ingredients and say what it does, with the source.
Young children who have a lot of it can go over the daily limit. That was part of why its approved uses were not widened in 2024.
What is it?
Steviol glycosides are the sweet compounds taken from the leaves of the stevia plant, which comes from South America. The main ones are stevioside and rebaudioside A. They are 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Labels may show E960, or newer codes that say how it was made: E960a from the leaves, E960b by fermentation, and E960c using enzymes.
What does it do?
It triggers the sweet taste receptors on the tongue without adding calories. It passes through the small intestine largely undigested. In the large bowel, bacteria turn it into steviol, which is absorbed, processed by the liver and passed out in urine. Because it does not turn into glucose, it does not raise blood sugar the way sugar does.
Where you will see it
Low-sugar and zero-sugar soft drinks and flavoured waters, yoghurts, flavoured dairy drinks, breakfast cereals, sweets, chewing gum, sweetener sachets and tablets, and some cakes and desserts. UK labels call it steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
What the science says
The daily limit, and why it was not raised
European reviewers set a daily limit of 4mg per kg of body weight, measured as steviol, in 2010, and have kept it since. In 2024 an industry application asked for it to be raised to 6 or 16mg per kg to allow wider use. Reviewers refused, finding no good case for an increase. Their estimates showed that with the proposed extra uses, toddlers who eat the most could reach 6.9mg per kg a day, well over the limit.
Reviewers declined to raise the daily limit from 4mg per kg of body weight, and noted the proposed wider use would push the heaviest-eating toddlers over it, to about 6.9mg per kg a day.
The original daily limit of 4mg per kg of body weight was set after a full safety assessment covering DNA damage, medium and long-term toxicity and reproduction studies in animals.
High doses lowered blood pressure in trials
Several trials in people with mild high blood pressure found that stevioside, at doses given as a treatment rather than as a food sweetener, lowered blood pressure a little. At the much lower amounts in food and drink this has not been shown consistently.
In a two-year randomised trial of 174 people with mild to moderate high blood pressure, stevioside capsules lowered systolic blood pressure by around 10mmHg compared with a dummy pill.
A review of trials concluded that stevioside at supplement doses, not food additive doses, was linked to modest falls in blood pressure, but the trials varied a lot and food amounts were unlikely to have the same effect.
Blood sugar and insulin
Because steviol glycosides do not turn into glucose, they do not raise blood sugar the way sugar does. Some small trials suggest stevioside may lower blood sugar after meals in people with type 2 diabetes, possibly by increasing insulin. The evidence is small, and some results have not been repeated.
In a crossover trial, 1g of stevioside with a meal clearly lowered blood sugar and glucagon after the meal in people with type 2 diabetes, compared with sugar, possibly by boosting insulin release.
Gut bacteria
Steviol glycosides reach the large bowel undigested, where bacteria break them down. Lab and animal studies have raised the question of whether high concentrations change gut bacteria. At normal food amounts, evidence in people is limited and the picture is not settled.
Lab and animal studies found high concentrations of steviol glycosides can change gut bacteria, but whether this happens at normal intakes in people has not been established.
Where it stands with the regulators
Who should be careful
People allergic to plants in the daisy family, which includes ragweed and chrysanthemums, may react to stevia, which is related. People on medicine for high blood pressure or diabetes should know that high supplement doses of stevioside had effects on blood pressure and blood sugar in trials, though food amounts are lower. Look for steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
The honest read
Stevia is sold as a natural, plant-based sugar swap, and is common in products for people watching their weight or blood sugar. Its daily limit has held through several European reviews. The most important recent finding is the 2024 one: wider use could push toddlers over the limit, which is a real signal, not a technicality. The blood pressure and blood sugar trials used doses many times higher than food delivers, so they do not predict what a diet drink does. The gut bacteria question comes mostly from lab and animal work. For adults on current uses the picture is well studied, and young children at high intake are where regulators have drawn the line.
Related additives
Common questions
Is E960 banned in the UK?
No. Steviol glycosides are approved in the UK. The single E960 code has been split into E960a, E960b and E960c depending on how it is made. E960d is not currently authorised in Great Britain.
Why did regulators refuse to widen stevia use in 2024?
In a 2024 opinion, European reviewers refused an industry request to raise the daily limit and allow it in more foods, because their estimates showed toddlers at high intake would go over the limit under the proposed wider uses. The existing uses did not change.
What foods contain E960?
Mostly diet and zero-sugar soft drinks, flavoured waters, low-sugar yoghurts, breakfast cereals, chewing gum, sweets and sweetener products. Labels call it steviol glycosides, stevia, stevia leaf extract, E960 or E960a.
Is E960 vegan?
Yes. The leaf extract (E960a) comes from a plant, and the fermentation-made version (E960b) is made by microbes, with nothing from animals.
Sources
- EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings: Scientific opinion on the extension of authorisation of use of steviol glycosides (E 960a-d) and modification of the ADI (2024)
- EFSA ANS Panel: Safety of steviol glycosides for the proposed uses as food additive (2010)
- EFSA: Safety of the proposed amendment of the specifications of steviol glycosides (E960) to expand the list of steviol glycosides, EFSA Journal 2020:6106
- UK FSA approved additives and E numbers - E960a steviol glycosides from Stevia
- UK FSA Approved Additives and E Numbers list
- Hsieh MH et al.: Efficacy and tolerability of oral stevioside in patients with mild essential hypertension, Clinical Therapeutics (2003)
- Onakpoya IJ & Heneghan CJ: Effect of the natural sweetener, steviol glycoside, on cardiovascular risk factors, PLOS ONE (2015)
- Gregersen S et al.: Antihyperglycaemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects, Metabolism (2004)
- Ruiz-Ojeda FJ et al.: Effects of sweeteners on the gut microbiota: A review of experimental studies and clinical trials, Advances in Nutrition (2019)
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