These are compounds extracted and refined from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant. Many people choose to replace sugar with stevia to reduce their calorie consumption. In this article, we look at the possible risks and side effects associated with this natural sweetener.
Stevia leaves are about times sweeter than traditional white sugar and people have used them for centuries as a sweetener and herbal supplement.
Because the FDA have not approved crude stevia extracts and stevia leaves as a food additive, companies are not allowed to market them as sweetening products. According to the FDA, the acceptable daily intake for steviol equivalents is 4 milligrams mg per kilogram of body weight. That equates to about 12 mg of high-purity stevia extracts per kilogram of body weight per day. When used as a sweetener or to flavor foods, experts do not consider highly purified stevia to cause adverse side effects.
While several studies have identified potential side effects of stevia over the last few decades, most were done using laboratory animals, and many have since been disproved.
Stevia is considered a diuretic, meaning that it increases the speed at which the body expels water and electrolytes from the body in urine.
Because the kidney is responsible for filtering and creating urine, researchers initially thought that long-term consumption of stevia could damage the organ. More recent studies, however, have concluded that stevia may help prevent kidney damage. A study carried out in a laboratory found that stevia reduced cyst growth in kidney cells.
Some stevia products contain added sugar alcohols that may cause unpleasant symptoms in individuals that are very sensitive to the chemicals. Several studies using rodent and human cell cultures have demonstrated the potential gastrointestinal benefits of steviol glycosides.
Stevia use has been shown to help limit and reduce diarrhea and the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome IBS. According to a review , there are very few reported cases of stevia allergy. Both the FDA and European Commission concluded that the number of individuals who are hypersensitive to stevia or at a risk of having an allergic response to it is low. Although stevia may help control blood sugar in people with diabetes , it was also once thought that long-term or heavy stevia consumption might cause hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.
This has since been proven highly unlikely, except in individuals with abnormally low blood sugar levels. Stevia is known to act as a vasodilator, causing the blood vessels to widen and lowering overall blood pressure. Currently, researchers have only explored the potentially positive aspects of this use. Though sweet, the powder also had a bitter aftertaste mostly attributed to a compound found in the stevia plant called stevioside , which limited its acceptability as a sugar substitute for the health-store-shopping crowd.
There are more than species of stevia plant, but one stands out for its excellent properties as a sweetener— stevia rebaudiana, which contains the compound rebaudioside A, the sweetest-flavored component of the stevia leaf. Rebaudioside A acts chemically similar to sugar in onset, intensity and duration of sweetness, and is free of aftertaste.
A majority of stevia-sweetened products contain mostly extracted Rebaudioside A with some proportion of stevioside, which is a white crystalline compound present in stevia that tastes to times sweeter than table sugar. Despite the three different names, the sweetener is essentially the same product, each containing slightly different proportions of rebaudioside A and stevioside.
But is it Safe? Though stevia is most likely as safe as artificial sweeteners or more so , few long-term studies have been done to document its health effects in humans. The authors noted that in some test tube and animal studies, stevioside but not rebaudioside A caused genetic mutations, chromosome damage and DNA breakage.
These changes presumably could contribute to malignancy, though no one has actually studied if these compounds cause cancer in animal models. Notably, initial concerns that stevia may reduce fertility or worsen diabetes seem to have been put to rest after a few good studies showed no negative outcomes.
In fact, one study of human subjects showed that treatment with stevia may improve glucose tolerance. Another found that stevia may induce the pancreas to release insulin, thus potentially serving as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. These studies are reviewed in Goyal, Samsher and Goyal, After artificial sweeteners were banned in Japan more than 40 years ago, the Japanese began to sweeten their foods with stevia.
With little long-term outcomes data available on the plant extract, it is possible that stevia in large quantities could have harmful effects. However, it seems safe to say that when consumed in reasonable amounts, stevia may be an exceptional natural plant-based sugar substitute. Check the label next time you eat a favorite low-calorie sweet. References Goyal, S. Stevia Stevia rebaudiana a bio-sweetener: A review. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 61, 1, Kobylewski, S.
It took Bertoni over a decade to find the actual plant, leading him to initially describe the plant as very rare. About the same time, more farms started growing and harvesting the stevia plant.
Stevia quickly went from growing in the wild in certain areas to being a widely available herb. Today, stevia is part of the sugar substitute market. According to the Federal Food and Drug Administration FDA high-purity steviol glycosides, an extract of the stevia plant, is considered generally safe for use in food. The U.
Department of Agriculture estimates Americans added more sugar to their diet every year since the s until When Americans dropped the added sugar, they turned to sugar-like extracts. Just 18 percent of U. Now, 24 percent of adults and 12 percent of children use the sugar substitutes, according to a review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Stevia has no calories, and it is times sweeter than sugar in the same concentration.
Other studies suggest stevia might have extra health benefits. According to a article in the Journal of Medicinal Food, stevia has potential for treating endocrine diseases , such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, but that more research is needed.
Other studies also suggest stevia could benefit people with Type 2 diabetes , but Catherine Ulbricht, senior pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and co-founder of Natural Standard Research Collaboration, says more research is needed. Her group reviews evidence on herbs and supplements. Ulbricht said Natural Standard gave stevia a "grade B for efficacy" in lowering blood pressure. A no-calorie source of sweetness is an obvious diet solution in theory.
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