Is Stevia The Best Treatment For Lyme Disease? Researchers Say Yes

Stevia is most commonly known as some people's favorite coffee sweetener, but researchers at the University of New Haven say that it can also be the best treatment for Lyme disease.

In the study, which was originally published in 2015 in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, researchers found that the sugar substitute was effective in fighting the bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease, Borrelia burgdorferi — even more so than antibiotics including doxycycline, cefoperazone, and daptomycin.

Dr. Eva Sapi, chairwoman of the Department of Biology and Environmental Science and director of Lyme disease research at the University of New Haven, began studying the disease after being diagnosed and has since been "on a mission" to find out more about a treatment that works, Fox 61 reported.

The therapy will soon be tested in clinical trials among patients of Dr. Richard Horowitz at Hyde Park, New York, while Sapi's team at the University of New Haven will continue to test the method on Zebrafish.