Dangers of Stevia - Real or Not?

What are the dangers of stevia? The biggest danger is that stevia is misunderstood and there is much mis-information out there. Read on...

Some media reports, like these, would have you believe that there are many stevia side effects.

The truth, however, is slowly coming out. People are realizing that using stevia is a good option. Especially for people with Candida, if you are diabetic or if you want a lower glycemic, low carbohydrate sweetener.

The stevia plant has been plagued by much controversy - both political controversy and health controversy

Politically, many marketers and consumers have felt that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration in the US), originally banned any importing of Stevia in 1991 because of pressures from local artificial sweetener industries.

Some people feel that the artificial sweetener companies didn't want the competition from stevia. Because Stevia is a natural sweetener, from a plant, it was felt that if it was approved, people would naturally go for the natural sweetener - not the artificial one.

After a long approval process and lobbying by stevia supporters, eventually, in 1995, the FDA approved Stevia as a dietary supplement and then in 2008 as a sweetener.

This meant that Stevia could be sold in grocery stores along side sugar, splenda and equal as a sweetener for food.

Stevia began to be mass produced by 2 large US companies. In 2008, two stevia sweeteners were approved for use - Truvia (produced by the Coca Cola Compnay and Cargill) and PureVia (produced by PepsiCo and a subsidiary of Merisant).

The worry about the dangers of stevia was disappearing.

Some claim that this sudden approval is because consumer research now predicts that the market for stevia sweetened products could reach $2 billion (US) by the end of 2011. Big money.

So finally, after many ups and downs, Stevia is now commercially available as a sweetener in the US.

However, it is only certain stevia extracts that are approved, not the use of the whole stevia plant.

The approval process is slow, as each type of extract needs to go through it's own approval process by the governing bodies.

This said, even in Canada where it is still considered a food supplement, you can buy stevia in the neighbourhood grocery stores, not just the health food store.

In fact, Health Canada is currently reviewing it's position on stevia extracts. Food and beverage makers are now allowed to expand the use of stevia in their products. The Toronto Globe and Mail did a recent article on this.

Despite the controversary, the benefits and use of stevia are winning out.

Happily, as the political controversy around stevia calms down, the health controversy is also decreasing.

The main type of stevia sold and consumed today is the Rebaudioside A extract from the stevia plant. The majority of studies, which have been done on Rebaudioside A, show no harmful effects from the use of this type of Stevia extract.

In 2006, the WHO (world Health Organization), concluded that there were no health risks and some possible benefits to patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The main recommendation was that more study should be done to determine proper dosage.

So, now that we've worked through any of the misunderstandings about stevia - are there dangers of stevia that we need to worry about? There are no stevia dangers according to the World Health Organization. If you use stevia to cook with or to sweeten your beverages, there is no research that shows any health risks for you. You only need to use a very small amount - usually 1 tsp of stevia equals 1 cup of sugar.

And, if you have Candida or struggle with yeast infections, stevia can play an important role in helping you control your sugar intake and keep a constant sugar blood glucose level - which will help control sugar cravings, and highs and lows. Stevia is also allowed on an anti-candida diet. It can be a great addition to your healthy diet plan and nutrition part of treatment.

Tell us about your stevia experiences. Read what other's say about their nutrition.

If you found this stevia information useful, you will also like the information in our YIA Health Ezine.
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Also, you will likely find videos and pictures of yeast-related health issues helpful. Check out what our visitors have submitted about yeast health or submit your own.

Also see: Our Nutrition section.