The following document is presented for informational purposes only!

FERTILITY OF RATS: AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Stevia rebaudiana (BERT.) BERTONI AND STEVIOSIDE

Prof. Amauri R. Silva
Prof. Cloé M Saldanha
Prof. Rubens Boelter
Prof. Ana M. Chagas
Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil


The Stevia rebaudiana is a plant native of Paraguay which grows in the border between Brazil and Paraguay.. It contains a sweetening activity 300 times sweeter than sugar which is attributed to a active principle known as stevioside.


The native population of Paraguay also used this plant for the purpose of avoiding pregnancy. The present research project was performed with tests with the objective to verify the veracity of such usage.


For this purpose, 5 groups of 20 rats each were utilized. The G1 control group received water and food at will; group G2 received the aqueous extract of Stevia rebaudiana at 4%; group G3 received the extract at 10%; group G4 received stevioside at 0.04% and group G5 received the aqueous extract of Stevia rebaudiana by cold infusion at 10%. All animals received food and liquid at will. The rats received the treatment before and during the copulation, continuing on until the end of the pregnancy.


In group G1 there was a pregnancy rate of 90%, with an average of 8 births per litter; group G2 80% with an average of 9 births per litter ; group G3, 85% with an average of 8 births per litter; group G4, 80% with an average of 7 births per litter and Group G5, 85% with an average of 8 births per litter. We concluded that the reduction in pregnancy rate was not significant among the various groups, hence the use of the Stevia rebaudiana and the stevioside to avoid pregnancy is merely folkloric.