STEVIA reviews please!

EthanJeremiahsMama
EthanJeremiahsMama Posts: 534 Member
edited October 1 in Food and Nutrition
Lol at this very moment I'm at Safeway & came across "Stevia extract in the raw" (green box) and also found one in a white box, it says it's a zero calorie natural sweetener?

Any reviews on this??? I don't wanna buy this if it's bad for my diet, thought it'd be good to add to my plain non-fat Greek yogurt!

Replies

  • frenchprairiegirl
    frenchprairiegirl Posts: 173 Member
    I only use Stevia to sweetened homemade brewed iced tea or iced coffee. To sweeten my greek yogurt, I add cinnamon, a touch of pure vanilla extract and loads of fresh berries. YUM!
  • kkauz42
    kkauz42 Posts: 537 Member
    I have been using Stevia for like a year or so. The stuff in the green package is a little more bitter than in the white. I actually use mine in greek yogurt as well! As far as I know, it is completely natural and not harmful and better than sugar or other sweeteners!
  • natskedat
    natskedat Posts: 570 Member
    It's a natural derivative from a the stevia plant. I've been using it for months with great success. You need much less of it than sugar, as well.
  • noogie98
    noogie98 Posts: 451 Member
    In my opinion, Stevia is better for you than all of those chemical sweeteners, like Sweet & Low, Equal & Splenda. I love it! :wink:
  • Artemis_Acorn
    Artemis_Acorn Posts: 836 Member
    Stevia is good in some things, not so good in others. I do use it to sweeten plain yogurt and like it a lot, although I use the liquid drops. It's good to sweeten tea and smoothies too, but I've never had any luck with something I've tried baking as a dessert with it. It can have a bitter aftertaste, but it is totally natural - not an artificial sweetener - so no guilt there.
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    We use Stevia in the Raw instead of sugar. Love it! (Use Agave instead of honey too).
  • betslyn
    betslyn Posts: 8
    Stevia is the best. Look it up - you will be amazed at all it does. It could cure diabetes, high blood pressure, and numerous other problems in this country. The japanese have used it for years and it is in everything over there from pop to brownies and all other kinds of sweets. We on the other hand have the FDA need I say more.
  • fionat29
    fionat29 Posts: 717 Member
    This link tells you how to grow your own.
    http://www.stevia.com/Stevia_article/Growing_Your_Own_Stevia/8077
    It all looks very interesting, we probably can't get it in the UK, I'm going to look now. Lol!
  • CoCoMa
    CoCoMa Posts: 904 Member
    I buy the non-bitter liquid and use it in my coffee...it's not so bad.
  • dovesgate
    dovesgate Posts: 894 Member
    I use it in my coffee and I like it. It isn't as bitter to me as some of the other sweeteners.
  • taem
    taem Posts: 495 Member
    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-stevia-good-for-you/

    Here are the sources

    Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2010 Feb;61(1):1-10. Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) a bio-sweetener: a review. Goyal SK, Samsher, Goyal RK.
    Mutagenesis. 1996 Nov;11(6):573-9. Evaluation of the genotoxicity of stevioside and steviol using six in vitro and one in vivo mutagenicity assays. Matsui M, Matsui K, Kawasaki Y, Oda Y, Noguchi T, Kitagawa Y, Sawada M, Hayashi M, Nohmi T, Yoshihira K, Ishidate M Jr, Sofuni T.
    World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser. 2009;(952):1-208, 1 p following 208.Evaluation of certain food additives.Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.
  • dleithaus
    dleithaus Posts: 107 Member
    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-stevia-good-for-you/

    Here are the sources

    Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2010 Feb;61(1):1-10. Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) a bio-sweetener: a review. Goyal SK, Samsher, Goyal RK.
    Mutagenesis. 1996 Nov;11(6):573-9. Evaluation of the genotoxicity of stevioside and steviol using six in vitro and one in vivo mutagenicity assays. Matsui M, Matsui K, Kawasaki Y, Oda Y, Noguchi T, Kitagawa Y, Sawada M, Hayashi M, Nohmi T, Yoshihira K, Ishidate M Jr, Sofuni T.
    World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser. 2009;(952):1-208, 1 p following 208.Evaluation of certain food additives.Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.

    This is stevia.....
    The diterpene known as Steviol is the aglycone of stevia's sweet glycosides, which are constructed by replacing steviol's carboxyl hydrogen atom (at the bottom of the figure) with glucose to form an ester, and replacing the hydroxyl hydrogen (at the top of the figure in the infobox) with combinations of glucose and rhamnose. The two primary compounds, stevioside and rebaudioside A, use only glucose: Stevioside has two linked glucose molecules at the hydroxyl site, whereas rebaudioside A has three, with the middle glucose of the triplet connected to the central steviol structure.

    In terms of weight fraction, the four major steviol glycosides found in the stevia plant tissue are:

    5–10% stevioside (250–300X of sugar)
    2–4% rebaudioside A — most sweet (350–450X of sugar) and least bitter
    1–2% rebaudioside C
    ½–1% dulcoside A.

    Rebaudioside B, D, and E may also be present in minute quantities; however, it is suspected that rebaudioside B is a byproduct of the isolation technique.[2] The two majority compounds stevioside and rebaudioside, primarily responsible for the sweet taste of stevia leaves, were first isolated by two French chemists in 1931.[3]
  • i_love_vinegar
    i_love_vinegar Posts: 2,092 Member
    Regular sugar really isn't that high in calories...~45 calories per tablespoon (3 teaspoons). I would personally hold-off on the Stevia until more long-term research is done on it.

    Sugar has been around for a long time, and as long as it is consumed in moderation you should be okay.
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