Stevioside, a natural sweeteners presently used in various kinds of food and food products in Korea, was evaluated for its toxicity potential in the 14 day feeding study using B6C3F1 mice. Stevioside was added to the diet at different concentrations of 0.31, 0.62, 1.25, 2.5 and 5%, and was administered for 14 consecutive days. An increase of liver organ weight in male mice was observed. No diet-related differences were noted in clinical signs, food consumption, and gross and histopatholgical evaluation. Based on these results, we concluded that the concentration of 5% in the diet was a suitable maximum tolerable dose of stevioside for a 90 day study in mice.

ABSTRACT
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
  Test compound
  Test Animals
  Doses and administration of the stevioside
  Clinical signs and mortality
  Necropsy
  Organ weight
  Histopathology
  Statistical analysis
 Results
  Analyses of test diet formulation.
  Clinical sign and Mortality
  Body weight, Food consumption and steviosideintake
  Necropsy findings
  Organ weight
  Histopathological findings
 Discussion
 Acknowledgment
 References

• Hye-young Lee(Biotoxtech Co., Ltd., Ochang Scientific and Industrial Complex)
• Jong-Koo Kang(College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University)
• In-Seok Bang(Hoseo University)
• Cheol-Beom Park(Hoseo University) Correspondence to