Is Stevia a Healthy Choice?

If you are one of those health-conscious consumers who has mindfully switched from pink or blue packets of sweetener to the more natural choice, stevia…we need to talk.

First, what is stevia anyhow?  Stevia is a sweetener made in a lab but starting with a plant.  The pink and blue stuff is also made in a lab but starting with…umm…not a plant.  So in this regard, stevia is “natural”. 

Stevia belongs to a group of products known as nonnutritive sweeteners. It is pretty new to this club so we don’t have a long track record of its use in the US.  In the US, pure stevia extracts (those made in the lab) are considered by the FDA as GRAS (which stands for generally recognized as safe).  There is some nitpickiness at the FDA differentiating whole leaf stevia extracts (which may have some serious effects on blood sugar, blood pressure, and the kidneys) and “high-purity steviol glycosides”, and it is the latter high-purity version that has GRAS status.  Who knows, that nitpickiness may be saving our lives.  So the “natural” stevia used in food is processed in the lab.   

Most people look to nonnutritive sweeteners to reduce their caloric intake, especially from foods that normally contain sugar. Unfortunately, studies of people who use nonnutritive sweeteners don’t show this to be the case.  Often people consume more calories when using sweeteners. Studies also show they may not be helpful for weight loss, and their use is associated with diabetes and obesity.

But there are a few things we don’t know about these sweeteners.  First, are they safe for long term use?  These chemicals are generally studied in lab animals and small human trials to determine safety.  None of these studies have looked at long-term use.  However, stevia has been used in Japan for decades without any apparent problems.  Still, these sweeteners are fairly ubiquitous and may have unintended metabolic effects with long term use.

We don’t know how these sweeteners effect our sweetness “sense” which is what the brain interprets as sweet and what happens when there is no sugar to back up that sweetness. The impact on insulin secretion, our gut bacteria, and other metabolic consequences are unknown.

How does using stevia affect our ability to cut the sugar habit?  We reduce sugar cravings when we cut sugar and sugary foods out of our diets.  Stevia use may negatively impact our ability to do that.

In addition, nonnutritive sweeteners like stevia are frequently found in processed foods (and there is nothing natural about processed foods).

Bottom line is that I recommend against using nonnutritive sweeteners (natural or not).  If you need to add sugar to a food, use sugar in its most natural form such as sugar in the raw, honey, or maple syrup.  A healthy diet includes very little added sugar.  Get your sugar naturally from fruits, whole grains, and other low glycemic index foods.