Abstract Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni contains steviol glycosides with emphasis to rebaudioside A, which presents a stronger sweet flavor, more stability, good solubility and lower bitter residual taste, which benefits its application in foods and drinks. The objective of this study was to determine the equivalent amount of rebaudioside A necessary to promote the same degree of sweetness of sucralose in the grape- and peach-flavored soy beverages and evaluate their physicochemical characteristics and consumer acceptance. At the Natural Products Center of the State University of Maringa, the rebaudioside A was purified from the M1 Alvarez variety of Stevia plants. Through sensory analysis established that the ideal quantity of rebaudioside A to substitute sucralose in foods with peach soy and grape soy would be 3 times the quantity of sucralose. The results revealed no signifcant differences for the physicochemical and sensorial characteristics (p < 0.05) between the two formulations. The results also indicate that the rebaudioside A with high purity rate (97%) obtained from selected stevia varieties can substitute sucralose in peach soy foods and grape soy foods.

Abstract The objective of this work was to perform the ethanolic pretreatment of stevia leaves from the plant Stevia UEM-13 line and to characterize its physical-chemical properties aiming its use as a sweetener in the development of a diet cereal bar. The same formulation of the cereal bar with stevia leaves without pretreatment was elaborated for comparative purposes. The following ingredients were used in the preparation of the produtc: fine oat flakes, no sugar granola, cranberry, dehydrated apricots, water, gum acacia and stevia leaf pretreated (F1) and without treatment (F2). According to the results, the diet cereal bars presented significant amounts of crude fiber, protein and antioxidant activity. The product was microbiologically safe for human consumption, reporting lower microbiological valuesthan those foreseen by official regulation. The overall sensory evaluation indicates that the two formulations did not present statistically significant differences regarding the analyzed attributes, being the averages between “liked very much” and “moderately liked”. However, considering the group of cereal bars consumers, the formulation sweetened with pretreated leafs (F1) was found more than twice the acceptance regarding to the formulation sweetened with the leaf in natura (F2). These results demonstrate a viable option of a diet food product naturally sweetened.

Resumo O objetivo do artigo é testar o efeito do capital humano no crescimento econômico brasileiro através dos canais de acumulação de fatores e produtividade total de fatores. Utilizamos novas medidas de capital humano, cobrindo o período de 1996 a 2015 e empregamos o método two-step SYS-GMM, com correção de erros padrão de amostra finita e análise de componentes principais para o controle da proliferação de instrumentos. Os resultados mostram que o capital humano afeta o crescimento econômico por meio de ambos os canais, testados individualmente. No mais, tanto capital humano básico quanto avançado produzem impacto positivo no crescimento por meio do canal de produtividade total dos fatores.

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to test the effect of human capital on Brazilian economic growth through the factor accumulation channel and the total factor productivity channel. We used new human capital measures, covering the period from 1996 to 2015 and employed the two-step SYS-GMM method, with standard finite sample error correction and principal components analysis for the control of the proliferation of instruments. The results show that human capital affects economic growth through both individually tested channels. Also, both basic and advanced human capital have a positive impact on growth through the total factor productivity channel.