Stevia is a plant-derived sweetener that you're going to be hearing a lot about in the coming months. It is made from the leaf of the plant and can be 400 times as sweet as sugar, but without the blood sugar variations that most sweeteners inflict on us. In fact, it has been shown to improve blood sugar responses. The FDA just approved an extract (from what I understand, the sweet part) of the stevia plant called Rebaudioside-A for use in food products.
As most things, the sweetener's proponents and detractors have a lot to say. And I'll admit, I'm confused. When I was first introduced to the sweetener several years ago, I heard all the positives. When I read about the FDA approval yesterday I got more and more confused. Stevia's history with the FDA is apparently long and storied. In 1991 in the midst of some controversy, it was banned as a food product in the US, even though normal procedure is to consider foods safe until they have been proven otherwise. It was still allowed to be sold, but as a supplement (which is even more confusing because in the US the DHEA regulates vitamins and supplements as foods!). The thought was, in 1991, that the FDA was feeling pressure from the soda corporations that were entrenched with nutra-sweet/aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and so put the kibosh on approving it as a food additive.
All that aside, when I first read the news yesterday, I thought I was reading a criticism of the latest approval because it is only an approval of an extract of the plant, and therefore might be missing some of the better properties that a "whole food" could provide. But no, I guess that's just (part of) my bone to pick with this whole thing.
If any of you have tried stevia in the past, you may have noticed a slightly bitter aftertaste. Another troubling nugget that I learned while researching all of this is that many companies that now sell it claim to make it from a plant that basically has less of what makes it bitter. Combine that information with the fact that the Stevia plant doesn't produce many seeds, and is therefore easier to clone than breed (apologies if I'm using the wrong lingo here), and you've got plenty of reason to believe that the Stevia you buy is probably from a Genetically Modified Organism(GMO).
Another concern is all the processing that happens to get that sweet part out of the plant, as well as why Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Co are so interested in this...
I'm curious to see what happens next, and if maybe there's a piece to this puzzle that I'm missing. At the end of the day, it's always better to eat the whole food instead of some isolated element(that seems to be highly processed to boot). And it's good to know where it came from and what happened to the seed/plant before that. Nature! What a novel idea.
Some of the literature I've read now makes it unclear whether or not the FDA really gave the go ahead, or if they are just about to...
FYI: Trademarked stevia sweetners are Truvia™ (Coca Cola and Cargill) and PureVia™ (Whole Earth Sweetener Company LLC and PepsiCo).
3 comments:
hey girl! damn, i need to reply to your email still, i think. sorry! anyWHO, i just read this and wanted to say that i've been using erythritol and xylitol, since my type 1 diabetes diagnosis in march. it's been GREAT (they are fermented forms of sugar and thus alcohols; hence the 'ol' at the end of their names. sorry, that's the organic chem gal coming out in me...:) but really, i think they're pretty healthy, i've read better things about erythritol, though. i use them in my recipes and they've no impact on my blood sugar readings, as they are very, very low glycemic index. excellent for hot and cold drinks (if you go that route, but i only use 'em for cooking, really.) well, hopefully that was a 'coherent comment', and not all soap-boxy, haha. much love and peace to my naturopathic bestie....
thanks! i have been wondering about some of those "other" sweeteners. i haven't experimented very much with them. what about agave nectar? i like it on my oatmeal:) the nourishing gourmet doesn't like it...though i'm forgetting why. have you ever used the palm sugar that she talks about? it's nice to know the actual blood sugar impact of these things, since you are checking them directly after consuming them. i always appreciate your input! (and i thought it was my turn to email!)
hello! ya, i remember reading that kimmi harris didn't like agave nectar and i think it's just cos to the raw foodies out there say it's 'technically' not a raw food anymore b/c it's 'technically' been refined. i use it on my oatmeal, too! it's so sweet, i barely need any! so, i do believe in leeway; and i'll tell ya, i do GREAT with agave nectar; i substitute it for honey and sugar in cooking, too. honey is super high glycemic: let's just say i use it when i'm having low blood sugar and it brings me back up FAST; so just imagine what it does to people who think it's the best natural way to sweeten things. that's a lot of insulin for ya'll to be putting out just for a little honey...take it easy!
never used the palm sugar, but i totally want to try it! i'll get it eventually and post on how i do with it...
bottom line, sweeteners should be used sparingly in my opinion, as we humans have only gotten such a scary sweet-tooth in our recent evolution...
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