Posted on 06/25/2006 8:58:23 AM PDT by pickrell
Are you absent-mindedly munching on the minnows while waiting for Ol' Roy to bite?
Large doses (30-50 grams) may have a laxative effect.
Avoid anyone you see eating eggs, smoking, and drinking coffee sweetened with it...
I have some but I didn't like it the first time I tried it. I thought it had an after taste. Maybe I need to give it a second chance.
Try washing your hands.
Me too.. Sister introduced me to a few packets and that was my discovery.
I've used Stevia for years now...a quarter of a teaspoon of Stevia takes the place of a full teaspoon of sugar. And in many cases tastes better.
There are a few drawbacks...it is a bit expensive (but less so than say, Splenda) and I have to buy it at the nutty crunchy liberal foods market.
For anyone who must (or wants to) avoid sugar, this is a must to try.
Or better yet, your moustache.
I buy mine at steviasmart.com
Other than a licoricey aftertaste, which varies by brand, and the fact that it chemically cannot replicate sugar's function in baking, it's great stuff.
Maybe:
Stevia, which is about 100 times sweeter than sugar, is obtained from a shrub (yerba dulce) that grow in Brazil and Paraguay. The name of the actual sweet chemical is stevioside. The health-food industry advocates stevia extract as a safe alternative to synthetic sweeteners, like saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose. It is said to be widely used in Japan and several other countries. However, just because a substance is natural, does not mean that it is safe.
Maybe not:
The U.S. FDA has rejected stevia (or stevioside) for use as a food additive. Likewise, Canada has not approved stevia, and a European Community scientific panel declared that stevia is unacceptable for use in food. Studies found that high dosages fed to rats caused reduced sperm production and an increase in cell proliferation in their testicles, which could cause infertility or other problems. When pregnant hamsters were fed large amounts of a derivative of stevioside called steviol, they had fewer and smaller offspring. In the laboratory, steviol can be converted into a mutagenic compound, which may promote cancer by causing mutations in the cells genetic material (DNA). In addition, very large amounts of stevioside can interfere with the absorption of carbohydrates in animals and disrupt the conversion of food into energy within cells. In sum, small amounts of stevia are probably safe, but it is inappropriate to endorse wide use of this sweetener.
I trust CSPI, where this info came from. Just cause it's natural doesn't mean it's safe. And the vast conspiracy thing makes everyone a crook to be believed. I talked to the chief pharmacist for Great Earth vitamins about sucralose and he feels it is unquetionably safe. 2 cents a pack at wherehouse stores. Tastes like sugar to me.
Although sucralose in unquestionably safe, it does lead to a higher rate of uncorrected misspellings by users.
Ironic that you talk about thought police and then recommend using google. I don't need no stinking google. Ask.com. Just as useful and definitely doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth.
And if you are comfortable with relying on Japan's research, I've got a great drug for a good night's sleep called "thalidomide."
Let me put it this way: Stevia-bashing is the "global warming" of the nutrition community. Other than weight loss miracle cures, there is no other holy grail as sought after as a safe sugar alternative. When the average person consumes about 150 lbs. of sugar a year, do not think there aren't huge sugar and sweetener interests trying to protect their lucrative markets! It's likely the most addictive and toxic legal substance hyumans put in our bodies. A calorie-free sweetener that most people could grow in their back yard is a death knell for them.
BTW, sucralose - Splenda - gives me terrible gastronomic distress and an odd sensation of lightheadedness. I cannot use it, or any sugar alcohol (mannitol, sorbitol, maltitol, erythritol, etc.) without feeling awful.
I agree. We are of course a few years too early to begin this debate, but why wait? The vested interests behind the embargo seem to have successfully obscured the fact that an estimated minimum of 10 million Japanese, over the course of 20 years of stevia use, have used the product without a single product-related problem being reported, in probably the largest and most thorough test grouping ever accomplished. That actually equates to some 200 million subject-test-years of data! When added to the additional millions in South America, Israel, Asia, Australia and a number of other "study groups" of satisfied stevia-using countries- I know of no other product that comes even close to the GRAS, or "generally regarded as safe", textbook definition of a food product.
The idea is that certain components of the stevioside, when used in massive doses, caused harmful effects in certain bacteria. Oddly, my penicillin prescription for strep throat a few years back, (probably from not washing my hands after eating my minnows :-)!), has an even more lethal effect on bacteria.
But actual scientific method seems to have been left at the station on this train. This is a contest of raw political power. It was of course coincidence that the FDA official who decided to ban stevia, later accepted a very high paying job with the company having the most to lose if stevia became accepted.
What concerns me more... is that other horrendously deadly food additive which is made up of equal parts of chlorine,(a deadly gas), and sodium, an unstable and equally dangerous metal, and found in increasing numbers of foods. Ban NaCl before it melts the polar ice-caps!
But mentioning that would just rub salt into the wounds of the stevia-bashers.
Sugar alcohol affects me the same way if I eat too much at one sitting. But Splenda? Much better taste than Stevia and I've never heard of or experienced a laxative effect.
Do you use any other natural low-glycemic sweeteners? Lo Haun? Agave Nectar? Brown Rice Syrup?
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