Stevia has the added benefits of being pH-stable, heat-stable, and non-fermentable. The two primary active compounds — stevioside and rebaudioside — are known as steviol glycosides.

Originally used by South American tribes for hundreds of years, it has been used to sweeten teas and medicines alike. Because of its extraordinary sweetness, it is also used in a variety of other prepared foods especially baked goods. The leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant have been recognized as a multi-purposeful herb in both Brazil and Paraguay where it is used as a “sweet treat.”

Industrial Extracts and Derivatives are NOT the same as Natural Herbal Stevia

This is where the story of highly processed and unnatural stevia begins. The beverage companies created a huge public relations nightmare for themselves with the introduction of artificial sweeteners back in the 1960s and ’70s. Sugar substitutes like cyclamate and aspartame were added to some of the beverage recipes just at the same time that Saccharin was becoming popular.

Later on, sucralose (also known as Splenda), a non-nutritive and non-caloric sweetener, was added to the list because of the problems with those earlier products. All of these artificial sweeteners have now been proven to have their downside health risks, in addition to not tasting good.

In their eagerness to jump on the stevia bandwagon, the big beverage companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi have done what they usually do. They have formulated processes for extracting the sweetest ingredients from the stevia plant leaf. This process of chemical extraction renders the original form of the stevia herb virtually unrecognizable.

Discovering Links Between Gut Bacteria And Brain Function

Chewing gum may have played role in teenager’s death, inquest told

Samantha Jenkins, 19, who chewed up to 14 sticks a day, suffered fatal convulsions that might be linked to consuming gum to excess, says coroner

A teenager may have died after consuming too much chewing gum, getting through up to 14 sticks a day, an inquest has heard.

Samantha Jenkins, 19, died in the arms of her mother days after being taken to hospital following a violent fit. Her body had failed to absorb enough vital minerals and large lumps of chewing gum were found in her stomach, the hearing in Swansea, south Wales, was told.

Her mother, Maria Morgan, 45, told an inquest she believed Samantha, from Llanelli, south Wales, died from being poisoned by aspartame or sorbitol – sweeteners found in some gum. “I looked through my daughter’s bags, drawers, and bedroom and I found hundreds of sugar-free wrappers and receipts with several packets of chewing gum on them,” she said.

Internal sugar industry documents reveal how it influenced national research priorities for tooth decay

A new report reveals that the sugar industry heavily influenced federal research—as well as the guidelines that resulted from that research.

Tooth decay remains a problem in the U.S. despite being preventable. One simple fix is cutting back on overall sugar intake. But a new report published in the journal PLOS Medicine reveals that the sugar industry greatly influenced the U.S. National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) 1971 research by shifting the group’s focus away from dietary changes.

CSPI Urges Singer to Drop Diet Coke Endorsement Considering Cancer Concerns Around Aspartame

Asparatame, found in diet soft drinks, is claimed by some to cause side-effects

Experts warned recently about young people’s consumption of caffeine in energy drinks. Now the artificial sweetener aspartame has come under the microscope and Metroxpress is warning about the potentially harmful effects of the chemical found in the sugar-free varieties of soft drinks.

GreenMedInfo

November 5th 2014

By: Katherine Carroll, NTP

The National Health Federation (NHF) participated in an FDA-arranged conference call earlier this week in preparation for the U.S. position to be taken at the upcoming meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses to be held in Bali, Indonesia, this late November. The topic was the proposed draft Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) for labeling purposes in the guidelines on nutrition labeling. This is a joint FAO/WHO food standards program purportedly designed to protect children at risk from malnutrition and wasting by using fortified infant formula , follow-up formula, cereals, and also to set NRVs for infants and children. Unfortunately, Codex is allowing "fortification" with GMO-contaminated ingredients and that turned out to be the focus of the conference call.

GreenMedInfo

April 9th 2014

By: Margie King, Health Coach

Controversy continues to rage over the artificial sweetener aspartame. Since it was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981, aspartame has made its way into more than 6,000 food items.

The FDA claims aspartame is safe but has set an acceptable daily intake of no more than 50 mg per kilogram of body weight. In other words, an adult weighing 165 pounds should consume no more than 3,750 mg of aspartame a day. A can of diet soda typically contains about 180 mg of the chemical. That means the FDA's "safe" limit equates to about 21 cans of diet soda per day.

GreenMedInfo

February 3rd 2014

By: Gary Null, PhD

In September 2013, a bombshell report from Credit Suisse's Research Institute brought into sharp focus the staggering health consequences of sugar on the health of Americans. The group revealed that approximately "30%–40% of healthcare expenditures in the USA go to help address issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar."[1] The figures suggest that our national addiction to sugar runs us an incredible $1 trillion in healthcare costs each year. The Credit Suisse report highlighted several health conditions including coronary heart diseases, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which numerous studies have linked to excessive sugar intake.[2]

Just a year earlier in 2012, a report by Dr. Sanjay Gupta appearing on 60 Minutes featured the work of Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist from California who gained national attention after a lecture he gave titled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth " went viral in 2009. Lustig's research has investigated the connection between sugar consumption and the poor health of the American people. He has published twelve articles in peer-reviewed journals identifying sugar as a major factor in the epidemic of degenerative disease that now afflicts our country. The data compiled by Lustig clearly show how excessive sugar consumption plays a key role in the development of many types of cancer, obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. His research has led him to conclude that 75% of all diseases in America today are brought on by the American lifestyle and are entirely preventable.[3]

Until the airing of this program, no one in the "official" world acknowledged anything wrong with sugar, here is a sampling of some the latest research available to them if they chose to look: