René O'Deay gBlog

UPDATE: Can't wait for a Stevia soft drink? Zevia beats Coca-Cola to the market! With four flavors: cola, root beer, orange and twist. Check out the website to see if it's available in your area yet.

It hasn't been easy to overcome the Aspartame lobby with the FDA, even though stevia has been used in countries like Japan for many years with no bad effects. Can't say the same for aspartame. Read about the FDA's insidious actions regarding aspartame and stevia.

Just who are are the FDA protecting? Not us.

POSTED May 16, 2:28 PM

If you've ever tasted stevia, you know it's extremely sweet. In fact, this amazing noncaloric herb, native to Paraguay, has been used as a sweetener for centuries. With zero calories, zero carbohydrates and a zero glycemic index, it is understandable why people would want this plant to be part of their diet.

However, the herb has had a real problem in the United States in recent years because of actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), stevia can be sold legally in the United States, but only as a "dietary supplement." If you call it a sweetner it would be considered "adulterated," and the FDA can come in and seize it. In other countries though, Stevia is widely used. In fact, Japan, where its refined product known as stevioside, enjoys 41% of the sweetener market.

Do we need another sweetner, what with sucralose, aspartime, and saccharin? First, stevia is natural, as opposed to the other three which are made in a lab. There are also some real benefits to it.; in all the studies done with this sweetener, it does not have any side effects, can not be overdosed upon, does not cause cancer in lab animals. Actually, the rats had decreased incidence of breast tumors, while the males displayed a lesser incidence of kidney damage. It may also contribute to stablization of blood sugar allowing those who are currently insulin dependent to eventually not need treatment for high blood sugar levels and may also contribute to lowering of blood pressure.

But now, there has been a major shift bringing stevia to market, thanks to uber-global-corporate-machine Coca Cola. They are soon going to release diet drinks with a purified version of stevia, called Truvia.

I can't wait!

UPDATE: the process has been in the works for a couple years, and so far there is no announcement on Coca-Cola's website when the new product will be launched.

Can we tell  them to hurry up already?

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