Weight Loss – Have you tried Stevia, the new zero-calorie sweetener?

Stevia has been approved by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) as “generally recognized as safe”, meaning it can be marketed as a dietary supplement and added to food and drink products.

Stevia is using the label “natural” since it’s derived from the leaf of the stevia plant. This may be hard to accept due to the “bad rap” many artificial sweeteners have. Currently there are 5 artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA – aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), acesulfame-K (Sunett, Sweet One), neotame (made by NutraSweet), and sucralose (Splenda). Even though these sweeteners have received FDA approval, many question the safety and research studies are ongoing.

On the plus side for Stevia, it actually comes from a plant versus a lab. Stevia is a highly refined part of the plant called rebiana or Reb-A. This is the sweetest, purest part of the plant. A company out of Malaysia, PureCircle, claims to be the world’s largest supplier of Reb-A and has worked with a Swiss company to make the bitter, licorice flavor more palatable.

Regardless, we’ll soon be presented with many products containing Stevia in the near future. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are launching new lines of stevia sweetened products along with producers of other food products, including baked goods and breakfast cereals.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
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Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net