For those who have been led to believe that various artificial sweeteners are perfectly safe and healthy are probably skeptical when a product comes out that is touted as a safe and natural way to sweeten a food or beverage without any calories, sugar, or unhealthy side effects.
But that seems to indeed be the case for Stevia, a plant with leaves that are ground up and consumed for just that purpose. Leaves from the Stevia plant have been found to be 100 times sweeter than sugar without all the negatives for those that need to cut back on sugar.
Although Stevia is approved as a food additive in many other countries, it is currently only approved in the U.S. as a dietary supplement. But leave it to the FDA to miss the boat when it comes to this potentially beneficial additive. In a market where sucralose and aspartame rule, with potentially harmful consequences, it does not appear that Stevia will be approved by itself as a food additive. Instead, a form of Stevia called Truvia has been approved.
The jury is still out on the true safety of Truvia. Instead of using the entire plant, Truvia is a sweetener based on two components of Stevia. For now, my suggestion is to cut out the artificial product that may or may not prove to be safe, and stick with the plant. It can be easily found in most health food stores as a dietary supplement. Just don't expect to see it in a local restaurant anytime soon.
Brian Lancaster, D.C.
Valley Chiropractic
Frederick, MD
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