Stevia could offer cure for Lyme disease, researchers say

Scientists say that they've made the sugar substitute taste better. (iStock)

Stevia, a common coffee sweetener, could be a possible cure for Lyme disease after tests conducted by a Connecticut professor and her students showed it was most effective in treating the tick-borne illness.

Professor Eva Sapi, chairwoman of University of New Haven's Department of Biology and Environmental Science, and her students have been testing the liquid, whole-leaf stevia extract to treat Borrelia burgdorferi -- the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, according to Fox 61. Stevia is usually consumed in a powdered form.

Compared to other antibiotics such as doxycycline, cefoperazone and daptomycin, the sugar substitute proved to be the most effective in preventing the bacteria.

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Though Sapi's research was published in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology in 2015, she and researchers have still found that Stevia is the best treatment for Lyme Disease.

"We believe that nature put Borrelia on this planet and nature will provide a solution for it too," Sapi said.

Sapi said she began to research for cures when she was diagnosed with the illness herself.

"I was terrified to learn that not much is known about what is really working for this disease," she told Fox 61. " That was my goal, I was on a mission, I mean when I recovered I promised myself that we find something."

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Sapi said though her research has shown positive results, more testing needs to be done to ensure it would work on humans.

"Just because it works in a test tube doesn’t mean its going to work in a human body so we didn’t stop," Sapi said.

The method is now going to be tested on patients in Hyde Park, New York, in clinical trials.

Click here for more from Fox 61.