Paper Title
Using Of Stevia As Non-Caloric Sugar Substitutes On Viability Of Probiotic Bacteria Lactobacillus Casei

Abstract
The increased incidences of obesity and related health issues have resulted in an increased production and consumption of foods made with non-nutritive sweeteners without the risk of consuming additional calories contributed by normal sugar-based products. In this study, growing of probiotic bacteria L. casei on the different substrates such as glucose, inulin and 0.25, 0.50% stevia and viability were investigated. L. casei counts were stimulated by stevia the highest counts in basal medium and reconstituted fermented milk samples as much as glucose and inulin. Viable cell counts were higher than 8 log10 cfu g-1during fermentation for recommended therapeutic effect of food matrix on microbial survival rates. Stevia seems to be a better substrate and able to utilize for probiotic bacteria strains. Keywords- Stevia, Sugar substitutes, Lactobacillus casei, Fermented Milk