For those who don't know, stevia is a type of plant from South America. Stevia is a popular option as a natural sweetener. But its success has not been met with unified praise. As the popularity of stevia grows, so does the debate as to how ideal of a sweetener it really is. Is stevia good or bad?
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Well, for me, it's not ideal.
There are a lot of factors that have to be weighed when picking a sweetener that won't break your diet. When I stepped back and looked at stevia, as well as weighing it against other natural sweeteners like raw honey, it just wasn't quite up to my standards.
First of all, calling stevia a natural sweetener is a bit of a stretch. While stevia leaves, in their raw form, can be used as a natural sweetener, we're typically not buying stevia leaves off the shelf, are we? No, we're buying processed product that has unfortunately been given a few other ingredients.
What exactly has been added will depend on which stevia product you're buying, but it's likely you may see some words on the bottle including xylitol, dextrose, and glycerine. I don't like it when "extra" ingredients are added to the products I use–especially when they're bad for my health.
The next issue I have is true of most artificial sweeteners. Our bodies are not designed to understand the difference between sugar and fake sweeteners. So when we taste something sweet our bodies prepare to receive glucose. Blood sugar drops, expecting more glucose. But when it doesn't come, adrenaline and cortisol jump into action. These stress glands should be working in fight or flight situations–not when we're eating.
If you eat honey or fruit you're giving your body fuel and fiber. Artificial sweeteners, including stevia, give you no nutrition at all. Recent studies show that anyone with a hormonal imbalance or immune deficiency should stay away from stevia.
There's also just the issue of taste. Now, granted, this one mostly just comes down to personal opinion. But some people report finding a distinct aftertaste in their mouth when using stevia products as a sweetener, an aftertaste that is less than pleasant. There isn't much point in putting a sweetener into a drink if it doesn't even taste that good, but again, I suppose this just comes down to personal opinion.
This post was originally published on December 26, 2013.
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