The Real Dangers of Stevia
I've been researching for several
days in an attempt to uncover the dangers of stevia.
I'm going cross-eyed and getting a wicked headache because
the information that I have found is contradictory and frankly,
the attempt that I've now observed to discredit the safety
of stevia is ridiculous.
Stevia is a natural sweetener
from the leaves of a plant that grows natively in South
America. The full name of this plant, which is classified
as an herb, is "stevia rebaudiana."
The leaves have been used for
thousands of years in South America and South East Asia
for sweetening food and for medicinal purposes.
Dangerous sounding so far, huh?
The part of the leaves that is sweet can
be extracted and is known as "stevioside" - but
both the plant and the sweet extracts are known as just
"stevia."
I've been using stevia extract since I
heard about it a few years ago. At that time, I became aware
of the dangers of aspartame and sucralose
(known as the brands Nutrasweet® and Splenda®).I
got pretty pissed about how unhealthy artificial sweeteners
are - I'd been indoctrinated in believing they were safe!
Even worse was the fact that I have had
diabetes for my whole life and I'd been using them since
they were invented in a test tube, thinking they were good
because I could manage my blood sugars better but totally
unaware of the side effects...
There is overwhelming documentation that
these artificial sweeteners are not safe at all and can
actually cause serious health problems. There is no such
valid documentation regarding any sort of side effects of
stevia.
So are there any real dangers of stevia?
Well, it's non-toxic to the body, has
virtually no calories, does not impact blood sugar levels
and may actually assist them; it's stable in heat so you
can cook and bake with it, it truly assists in weight loss,
unlike artificial sweeteners that mess up your metabolism...
the despicable dangers of stevia go on and on!
Yes, I am being facetious. The bottom
line is that the safety of stevia
as a sweetener is unquestionable and the only real dangers
of stevia lie in the overtaking of the artificial sweetener
rackets!
Cheers!
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