Live It Articles The Natural Sweetener You've Been Waiting For

There’s a brand new all-natural sugar substitute now available in your supermarket. And it’s getting here just in the nick of time. Even with all the artificial sweeteners that have been around for decades, Americans still eat an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar every day. That’s 352 extra calories just from sugar.  Every day. The American Heart Association recommends that women should limit their sugar intake to six teaspoons and men just nine. That’s a lot less than 22 teaspoons. By the way, that’s not just teaspoons of sugar you get out of the sugar bowl; it’s the sugar that you get in soda, candy, cakes, cookies, fruit drinks, ice cream, yogurt with fruit on the bottom, and everything else we eat that tickles our sweet tooth. Keep in mind that each 20 oz plastic bottle of Pepsi or Coke has about 17 teaspoons of sugar in it. Yes, 17 teaspoons. Two ounces of packaged candy has around 11 teaspoons of sugar, a cup of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal has 4 teaspoons of sugar, and an 8 ounce cup of lemonade has about 7 teaspoons of sugar. Not only are Americans eating a lot of sugar, but we’re taking in more all the time. The average consumption of sugar is up 15% in the last 25 years.

How Sweet It Is.

But now we’ve got the new sugar alternative called stevia.  This is not an artificial sweetener like saccharin or Equal, or even Splenda. This natural sweetener comes from a South American shrub of the Chrysanthemum family called sweetleaf or sugarleaf. Stevia has been used for years in China and Brazil without any health risks and it’s the number one sweetener in Japan.  It’s now been approved in Australia and New Zealand, as well. Until recently though, it was only available in the US categorized as a food supplement usually found in the health food section of your supermarket. It’s available as a powder, liquid, or tablets. Some of you may have actually been using that form for some time already.

Stevia has virtually no calories, doesn’t raise blood sugar levels, and doesn’t promote tooth decay. In fact, research at Purdue showed that stevia inhibited the development of plaque on teeth. So, unlike many other sweeteners, it may be good for oral health.  It’s also heat stable and can be used in cooking but it doesn’t caramelize like sugar when used in baking.

Since Stevia is a natural product, it doesn’t require a patent.  As a result, there wasn’t much money to be made in promoting it. Until now.  Stevia has recently been granted what it called GRAS status (Generally Recognized As Safe) by the Food and Drug Administration. This means that any natural ingredient that hasn’t had any reported negative effects is deemed safe and doesn’t need any further testing. Stevia has also been approved by the World Health Organization.  The two components found in the stevia plant that are responsible for it’s sweet taste are called rebaudioside A (or Reb A), and stevioside. 

Reb A is now going to be used by Coke and Pepsi as an all-natural, no calorie sweetener.  It’s also available now in your grocery store as a table-top product called Truvia and PureVia. Look for it in the sugar section.

These purified extracts from the Stevia plant found in Truvia and PureVia are different from what you’ve been able to get up to this point in the health food section which are products made from the whole-leaf stevia plant. Some people say that the Stevia made from the whole plant has a slight licorice taste to it.  The new extracts don’t have that.  

As of this point, Stevia still has not been approved in Canada and in the European Union. For many years, it wasn’t allowed in the US as a food additive because some earlier studies had questioned its safety. Fortunately, the purified extracts of Stevia that are now available as Truvia and PureVia haven’t shown any problems. But, as with anything in the field of nutrition, there are some that still are cautious about it’s safety, primarily if it begins to be added to lots and lots of products and people start consuming larger quantities of it. But for now, if you want a truly “all natural” alternative sweetener, Stevia and its extracts are about as close as you can get.

Here’s a word to the wise. Remember, lots of products in the supermarket that use sugar substitutes also don’t have much in the way of nutrition. Almost by definition, lots of junk foods use sugar substitutes.  You don’t need artificial sweeteners in real food like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, or dairy.  My hope is that you’re not eating a lot of sugar alternatives, simply because you’re mostly eating real food, not food products. Remember, if everything tastes sweet, really sweet, then the natural sweetness of real foods loses some of its desirability.  There is a natural sweetness to a carrot, but it can’t hold a candle to the sweetness of carrot cake.  If a lot of what you eat everyday tastes sweet, because of sugar or sugar substitutes, then regular, nutritious foods seem rather bland by comparison. That’s the problem. So, my advice is that you go easy on foods that use sugar substitutes of any kind; whether they’re natural or not.  As I always say, “Eat closer to the way the food grows.”  But if it’s necessary for you to use a sugar substitute, then it looks like Stevia is your best, most natural option.

David L. Meinz, MS, RD, FADA, CSP earned a Master's Degree (MS) in Human Nutrition in 1981. He is also a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Fellow in the American Dietetic Association (FADA), an honor held by less than 1% of all dietitians. He has also earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation in the National Speakers Association. Only 325 people in the world have earned this prestigious title.  www.davidmeinz.com