Stevia has been around for a lengthy time. So why is it the FDA says it isn't a sweetener; it's not been confirmed safe and it can't be offered as something but a food supplement? And if that's all true, why are main soft drink manufacturers trying to get a patent on their edition of it? After all, for years they have been telling us that aspartame and splenda are totally harmless, all the whilst using stevia in their products in Japan, Germany and many other countries. So why is (their version) of stevia okay for that US now?
Stevia was "discovered" in 1903 by an Italian botanist in the jungles of Paraguay exactly where the native people had been using it for any sweetener. When it was grown commercially and launched towards the US a few a long time later on, sugar producers had been alarmed in the threat that stevia presented to their business, but nothing arrived of it until researchers isolated stevioside from it, a pure, white powder with exceptional sweetening power.
Then, in the 1960's, the Japanese, who had an aversion to artificial sweeteners, discovered stevia and started putting it into every thing from drinks to gum. Their restaurants function little green packets of stevia on the tables, the way ours have pink, blue and yellow synthetic sweetener packets. Quickly, other countries including China, Germany, Israel, Malaysia and others adopted stevia. Because it had been utilized over several decades, stevia's security document was readily obvious. There have been no side effects and it was not carcinogenic.
Stevia has a glycemic index of zero, so it does not raise or decrease blood sugar, which makes it ideal for diabetics or these on low-glycemic diets. (However, the American Diabetes Association won't endorse it simply because they follow FDA guidelines and the FDA says it's not safe.) It comes in each liquid and powder form - the powder has much more sweetening energy than the liquid - along with a little goes a very great distance. A mere quarter teaspoon is the equivalent of two tsps of sugar! Study supports the theory that stevia lowers blood pressure also when used on the normal basis.
I use liquid stevia in my tea simply because it does not seem to have the licorice aftertaste which many stevia manufacturers have. For cooking, I use stevia in combination with other sweeteners this kind of as honey and natural raw sugar and use the powder.
Whether or not stevia will catch on when the major gentle drink producers introduce it in their colas and other gentle drinks, or whether it will be another "New Coke" debacle stays to become seen. I am just hoping that the gentle drink giants' adoption of stevia will lead to its general use and acceptance in other foods and drinks. Now, that would be considered a sweet situation.
Interested to know more about Stevia and its glycin index then visit: Stevia Glycemic Index.
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