Recent findings showed that stevioside can demonstrate anti-cancer property in selected
cell lines. In this study, the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of stevioside were examined on
human colon carcinoma cell, HCT 116 (targeted cell) and human colon derived CCD18Co
myofibroblast cell lines (non-targeted cell) using the MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-
2,5-diphenyltettrazolium bromide) assay and alkaline comet assay, respectively. Result
demonstrated that stevioside induced cell death on both HCT 116 and CCD18Co cell lines only
at the highest concentration, 200 μM by causing not more than 20 and 30 percent of cell death
on CCD18Co and HCT 116 cell lines, respectively (p0.05). In conclusion, stevioside did not
exhibit cytotoxic and genotoxic effect on HCT 116 and CCD18Co cell lines respectively hence
secured its uses as a non-caloric sweetener