Posted on 04/16/2002 10:43:30 AM PDT by Brookhaven
"ISN'T THIS GREAT STUFF?" said the cashier at Puget Consumers Coop. "I'm glad we could get it in again." Then he added, sardonically, "It's OK to sell tobacco, but not this?"
"This" is stevia, an herb that - depending on who's talking - is an amazing no-calorie sweetener, a diabetic's salvation, a nutritious health enhancer or an unproved folk flavoring with uncertain effects on heart, kidneys and blood sugar, and a possible detriment to female reproduction.
In more than a dozen countries, stevia, sometimes called sweet leaf, is incorporated into manufactured foods and used as a sweetener. But in the U.S., it's categorized by the Food and Drug Administration as a dietary supplement, not a safe food or food additive, so it cannot be used in manufactured products or sold as a sweetener.
Critics charge the FDA with yielding to pressure from lobbyists in the artificial-sweetener industry. The FDA says petitions to re-classify stevia have been inadequate.
Consumers are just trying to figure out how to use it.
Stevia rebaudiana, native to Paraguay and Brazil, today is cultivated not only in South America but in China and even in Cottage Grove, Ore. Wholesale grower Log House Plants (541-942-2288) supplies many local nurseries, including Bainbridge Gardens, Magnolia Gardens and City People's, where a 4-inch pot of the tender perennial sells for $2.19. One well-established plant provides more than enough sweetener for a family of four for a year, says Log House's Alice Doyle, who hopes to sell stevia seed through the Jackson and Perkins catalog next year.
The fresh leaf, added to tea or even chewed, imparts a sweet and faint licorice flavor. Dried crushed leaves are about 30 times sweeter than table sugar.
Powdered stevia leaf, commonly sold in small packets or in bulk, also is about 30 times as sweet as sugar and often is used atop cereal, although it doesn't dissolve. A dark syrup-like extract is 70 times sweeter than sugar and usually comes in a dropper bottle, handy for coffee or tea. Both can have a slight herbal taste.
A white powder extract has a cleaner flavor, doesn't discolor foods, dissolves in water and is heat-stable to 388 degrees Fahrenheit, making it useful in light-colored or baked goods.
I dissolved a teaspoon of the white (sometimes called stevioside) in three tablespoons of filtered water to yield a clear liquid that sweetened a cup of tea with just two drops - three was too much. A quarter-teaspoon of this liquid balanced a glass of fresh lemonade. A quarter-teaspoon of the powder helped make a nice big batch of rice pudding.
Modifying recipes can be tricky. Stevia is so strong that many early attempts with old recipes resulted in over-sweet foods. Breads don't rise as much as those made with sugar. Stevia can't be caramelized. When one-quarter teaspoon substitutes for a cup of sugar, the sugar's bulk often must be replaced with something else. And potency can vary by brand, soil, climate and manufacturer.
Some manufacturers promote stevia for more than its sweet qualities. Jim May, president of Wisdom of the Ancients in Tempe, Ariz., says stevia's vitamins and minerals can help fight systemic yeast infections, aid intestinal flora, improve dental health, help diabetics regulate blood sugar, support the healing of some skin conditions and even make a dent in drug traffic from South America by giving farmers an alternative crop that will be lucrative once U.S. manufacturers are allowed to include stevia in food products.
For stevia to be re-classified as a food additive, FDA spokesman Alan Bennett says, manufacturers must prove that it is safe. (To be prohibited as a dietary supplement, the FDA would have to prove that it was unsafe.) He believes that many manufacturers are unaware that the once-complicated process to have a food accepted as "generally regarded as safe" has been simplified recently.
Perhaps a well-organized industry petition will change stevia's standing and lead to more products, more recipes, more access, and more research on its effects.
In the meantime, I think I'll have a little more dietary supplement in my tea.
Stevia sources
The case for stevia is well summarized in "The Stevia Story" by Linda Bonvie, Bill Bonvie and Donna Gates ($6.95, Body Ecology). Cookbooks include two volumes of "Baking With Stevia" by Rita Depuydt ($12.95 each, Sun Coast) and "The Stevia Cookbook" by Ray Sahelian, M.D., and Donna Gates ($12.95, Avery).
Yes. I have it in all three forms. It is INTENSELY SWEET. One drop in a full cup of coffee or tea is usually plenty. Some things are sweetened more easily than others, although I'm not sure why this should be. As far as I know, it has no side effects for the user, and is as safe as any herbal preparation that is sold. Just remember to use it in tiny amounts, and to experiment with it before you use it in something you want to serve to guests.
Which is impossible.
Why? Enjoy sugar in moderation, it won't kill you.
But they do it by replacing a carbon atom with a chlorine atom, which binds the molecule against digestive breakdown. If ya think chlorine is good for ya, then go ahead and use it. And have a bleach chaser afterward!
Two words: SUGAR LOBBY
Sugar in other countries is very cheap, but in the U.S., it is subsidized. The price is higher, making it less attractive for candy and pastry manufacturers. The sugar lobby has brought sufficient pressure to bear on the producers of stevia products to prevent its designation as a food. In the case of Nutra-sweet, the formula was purchased by one of the major food manufacturers in order to prevent it being used in competitive products without licensing. Perhaps someday, this will also happen to stevia. But as long as the sugar growers have any power, they will do everything they can to prevent it.
Yep. this is what we use at my house. There are a couple of soft drinks out that are sweetened with splenda. One is DIET RITE. The other is a punch-type drink that comes in several herbal-enhanced flavors. Both of these beverages are VERY good, and very tasty. If you are looking for a summer refresher that doesn't add calories, check for these.
Yes it is pricy, because it measures cup by cup just like sugar....... not a concentrate.
Anyway, time will tell if I can figure out how to use it to sweeten my coffee.
I bought the seeds from Park Seed Company.
Like I said, we got burned by using a artificail sweetener in the past. Nutrasweet was supposed to be safe with no side affects, but we experienced them.
The initial news about Splenda sounds a lot like the inital news about Nutrasweet. Sounds great, but there are some rumblings here and there that it may not be the benign panacea it is made out to be.
We would really like to find a natural alternative. The fact that Stevia is used widely in Japan would seem to be a big plus for it, but I would like to learn more about any product that might become a part of my family's diet.
No, but it will (or has in our case) make you fat.
We're experementing with a lot of alternatives (like using apple sauce for oil in recepies) to lower our total calorie intake.
We're also look at alternatives to refined sugar (which for the most part I have nothing against except for the calories.) Stevia is just one of the things that came up when I went looking for alternatives.
Maybe I should have titled this thread "help with processed sugar alternatives."
Here is one of the links I ran across that list concerns with Splenda:
http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm
It's hard to tell if these are legitimate concerns, or just the far left, all-natural-all-the-time crowd going off the deep end again. Common sense though, would tell you that if you take a natural product (like sugar) and turn it into something undigestible by humans, there is the possiblity it may cause some problems.
No, but in my case it brings on very painful headaches so I tend to avoid it like poison. Start checking the label of just about any sauce. Most of them have a lot of sugar. I have seen Stevia in the health food stores; currently I use Splenda and have found it to be quite good with no after taste.
It has also resulted in my losing quite a bit of weight.
a.cricket
A statement on page 5 was also notable:
Is There A Benefit for consumers?
According to Consumers' Research Magazine, sucralose provides some benefits for the corporations making and using it, but not for consumers.
They state that diabetics, weight watchers and the general public might make better food choices by selecting basic, rather than highly processed foods; for example, apples, rather than turnovers; or plain, rather than sweetened, dairy foods.
Can you still get Diet Rite? We can't get it in Seattle. We were told that Royal Crown went out of business and Coke and Pepsi were fighting over the rights before they would release Diet Rite again. Hanson's uses Splenda and is very good, but we miss the raspberry Diet Rite.
has to be either Fruit 2 0 or Fruit 2 0 plus. Very good stuff. You can get it from Walgreens as well.
a.cricket
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