Pros and cons of stevia
We've talked a lot about sugars and their effects on the body. The question I always get is "but what about stevia?"
It's a great question, and a complicated one.
So... WTF is stevia?
Stevia is a super popular non-nutritive sweetener (meaning it has little-to-no calories or nutrients).
Made from an herb, the stevia we know and love is actually a highly refined stevia product. This means that the stevia we ingest is not actually stevia, but a small component that gives stevia its sweetness. The whole leaf and crude stevia extracts actually haven’t been approved by the FDA.
While it has been used by some cultures for centuries, it has only been in the US for a short while, with the first products introduced in the '90s.
There has been some controversial research behind it, and because it hasn't been around for long, we don't quite know the long-term benefits or side-effects of long-term use.
With that being said, there are some general pros and cons of using stevia.
Potential PROS:
Stevia contains no calories, and can be a good choice for people cutting calories
Stevia doesn’t raise blood sugar levels, so it APPEARS to be ok for people with diabetes
Stevia is 200-300x sweeter than cane sugar, so a little goes a long way
Stevia is cheap and pretty easy to obtain
Potential CONS:
Although it doesn’t raise blood sugar levels, it can tax your adrenals. When you taste something sweet, your body prepares itself for a rush of glucose and lowers blood glucose levels. In efforts to compensate for the blood glucose drop and no sugar is provided, your adrenals pull stored sugar from you muscles/liver to raise blood sugar levels back up. This is an "emergency" response, and when it happens over and over, your adrenals can become fatigued.
Stevia is sometimes packaged with extra ingredients, like dextrose, xylitol, glycerine, etc. As always, look at ingredients when choosing processed products, even more "natural" ones.
Stevia can have an aftertaste for some people. Personally, this is why I don’t like most things with stevia--I get a weird chemical taste in my mouth that is hard to shake.
Because stevia is synthesized in the same pathways and is structurally similar to hormones, it can lead to hormone disruption. It has been implied that stevia may have an impact on sex hormones.
My take? I think stevia is fine in small and occasional doses, but I’d stay away from using it all the time, especially for those who struggle with hormone and immune dysfunction.
If you are trying to shake a sugar addiction, stevia (and other natural sweetness) may not be a good choice, because it is still supplying that sweetness you are craving. I would temporarily back off all added sweeteners (like 3 weeks) so that your taste buds can adjust to enjoying the natural tastes of foods, and you can kick the sweet cravings.
