Artificial Sweetener Stevia

Stevia is a sugar substitute that comes in either a powder or liquid form. It purports to have fewer potential problems than aspartame, which dominates the market, and is starting to find its way into more products. However, it's not without its own controversy.

Stevia is a South American herb that's been brought to the United States within the last six or seven years. It's said to be anywhere from 30 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. It's touted as a supplement more than a sweetener in the United States, and was actually banned in the 1990's from coming into the country.

In its own country, it's used as a medicinal herb to help alleviate a number of ailments such as heartburn, obesity, and hypertension. Just chewing on the leaves supposedly helps with these issues, and stevia has been tested and shown that it will help with weight loss.

So, what have the issues been with stevia, as far as the United States is concerned? Early testing seemed to indicate that stevia might cause reproductive problems in men, could cause cancer, and could disrupt the conversion of foods into energy. Even in 2008, when the FDA finally allowed for stevia to be used as a sugar substitute in certain products, it had to deal with a report from UCLA scientists that said the extract some soda makes wanted to use, rebiana, could potentially cause cancer, and should be consistently monitored. The issue was that it altered DNA in some of their tests, but not all of their tests.

In any case, some people like stevia better than aspartame, and others like stevia plus, which adds fiber, as their sweetener of choice. The fiber seems to dull the bitterness some people say regular stevia has. In any case, stevia is now an approved sweetener, and you will start seeing it in more products, except probably baked good. Like aspartame, it doesn't handle baking that well.

To learn more about products and activities that can affect your health, contact Dr. Michael Murphy of Action Chiropractic & Rehab at his Mesa chiropractic center or his Chandler chiropractic center.