The GAIA Health Blog

"The Project" series of my blog is where I "deep dive" into researching a particular food or product. I really enjoy researching stuff. I have to put out this post on stevia because of the additional ingredients I have been running across in some stevia products.

My concern came about because a product may be labeled "Stevia", and we would assume it is pure stevia. However, when we look at the stevias containing additional ingredients, they can cause me great concern.

This label was taken from the back of a stevia product. I have noticed that a lot of stevia products are not pure stevia leaf. Many seem to be watered down with Maltodextrin or Dextrose.

Maltodextrin is a somewhat sweet carbohydrate usually produced from corn starch. For me it's the corn that is the real issue. It seems that maltodextrin is a product that is readily available because our GMO corn industry has run amuck. If the product does not say organic and contains Maltodextrin, then its a safe bet that it's GMO corn. I try to stay away from it, I have to take control of the sugars that go in my body. This sweetener thing is complicated enough, and I don't need them throwing something else new at me.

Dextrose is Glucose by another name, and is a simple sugar. It is produced from the starches of corn, wheat, cassava, and some others. Once again the GMO corn is the issue for me because most dextrose in the USA is produced from corn starch (sigh……)

Stevia is a natural product and a whole food in it's traditional form, but beware of the "other ingredients". I noticed that in some stevia products, the stevia is not even the main ingredient, but the box is labeled "Stevia" (…….shaking my head).

Stevia has been used in the pre-Columbus Americas for more than 1,500 years, and the plant has a long history of medicinal use in Paraguay and Brazil. The leaves have been traditionally used for hundreds of years in Paraguay and Brazil to sweeten local teas, as medicines, and as a sweet treat. Such longevity dictates if we want to use the whole food as they have been used historically, we would not want that product to be mixed with questionable modern additives.

Some stevias also contain inulin which "could" be and issue with people with Candida, which is a problem associated with excessive yeast. Inulin supposedly feeds bacteria that cause candida. I ran across a blogger who wrote a good article on other ingredients in stevia as they relate to Candida.

I have a big concern about the products Truvia and PureVia, creations of Cargill (Truvia), and a Monsanto spinoff company called Merisant (PureVia). I consider their "made from stevia" claims to be VERY misleading advertising. These products are basically made with a chemical derivative of stevia called Rebiana, created from stevia leaves by steeping them in water. They also contain "Erythritol", a sugar alcohol. Thus, they say "contains stevia" or "made with stevia" but Rebiana + Erythritol is not Stevia in it's traditional sense.

There is confusion between the names "Rebiana" and "rebaudiana Bertoni". The latter is the botanical name for the stevia plant, whereas Rebiana is a patended process for a chemically extracted product. Our good friends at Cargill have made a play on the botanical name to try to fool the unawares. You know how they do.

There have been concerns about Rebiana being a "mutagen", defined as any substance that may alter genes. These products are a million miles away from the traditional whole food that is the stevia leaf that has been used for centuries. Anyone consuming Truvia should pay close attention to all this, before you put this stuff in your body.

Another product that I gave a thumbs down was "Stevia In the Raw", from the makers of "Sugar in the Raw" and "Sweet N Low". Being affiliated with the makers of Sweet and Low was the first warning sign. Basically "Stevia in the Raw" is promoted as being different from Truvia and Pure Via because although it uses the Rebiana mentioned above, it does not use the other ingredient in Truvia and PureVia, a sugar alcohol called erythritol. Either way, the Rebiana is NOT real stevia, but a chemically altered extract of the stevia plant. And therefore, "Stevia in the Raw" is not real stevia or raw stevia. I don't know if the source of all the side effects associated with these "false Stevia's", especially Truvia, is isolated to either Rebiana or erythritol, but my common sense logic is to stay away from Stevia in the Raw, considering all the reported health issues with Truvia .

I used to use a brand of Stevia called Sweet Leaf Stevia. I noticed that the single serving packets contain inulin fiber, but the concentrated version in the small jar does not, and the liquid extract does not. I noticed the same think about the brand called "Now" as well as many others. Very confusing stuff. And to be honest with you, I don't know if inulin fiber is good, bad, or not relevant, but I continue to keep the packets of "Sweet Leaf" Stevia in my wallet. I didn't get the impression that inulin fiber was something for me to be concerned about. Besides,  it's for the occasional coffee shop visit, since I'm not an everyday coffee drinker. When at home or work, I keep a jar of quality raw organic honey. From what I understand, vegans don't eat honey, so for them, it must be an even harder dilema to deal with all this sweetener madness out here. In the end I wasn't super crazy about its taste, but as mentioned above, I eventually came back around to NaturAmericas Stevia.

I also used a product called The Ultimate Sweetener Xylitol, which is made from birch trees. Xylitol is not actually a sugar, but a so called "sugar alcohol". It has a very pleasant taste, like a not too sweet sugar. I'm comfortable with it now, but I am gonna keep researching it because it is not an ancient food tested through time, it was invented in the late 1800's. Plus, most xylitol is made from corn and vulnerable to being GMO. So, I can't use anybody's brand of xylitol because I stay away from corn. If Birch Tree xylitol turns out to be safe and healthy, then that will be a very practical solution for most people, as it relates to taste, convience, etc. But, as soon as it gets popular, the GMO corn xylitol producers are gonna swoop in and start fooling people. You know how they do. The quest never ends I guess.

One woman's AMAZING COMMENT ON TRUVIA (proof I'm not lying)

(this comment is below in my comments section, but I wanted to add it to the article, in case anyone is googling on her symptoms).

"This is an old blog, I realize, but I need to post anyway. I was so excited to find Truvia, thought it was a real stevia product. Boy was I wrong. For years I had struggled with a bad case of hives on my chest. Hives would come and go with no way to pinpoint the reason. They appeared in an upside down T with the leg pointing to my chin and the crossbar all across my chest. I went to doctor after doctor;  dermatologists; allergy testing, all of the above and they all assured me it was a yeast infection. My reply: if it was a yeast infection the meds would make it better, not worse as that is what happens. I had a horrible outbreak and went to still another dermotologist; same DX, and they finally did a biopsy and sure enough, it was NOT a yeast infection. That got me to thinking: what have I changed in my diet? Only the addition of Truvia, ten packets to a gallon of tea. Since humans have used pure stevia for thousands of years, the logical conclusion was that an additve was the problem, and sure enough, checking the package showed a bulking agent named (the devil) maltrodextrin. So I looked up maltrodextrin, and discovered that it sometimes comes from potatoes:  to which I am allergic. Problem solved: no more products with maltrodextrin – you have to be careful, as it is in LOTS of foods, even vitamins. Makes me wonder if other people are equally allergic to maltodrextin and are unaware. It was the hardest food allergy to track down since it is an additive and sometimes even listed under deceptive names, can you imagine? Best of luck to us all to try to stay healthy."

UPDATE 5/7/2015 – I had previously promoted what I though was a great Stevia product, now I have to retract. A classic example of this scrupulous industry and how they are trying to fool everyone The link to read more about how even I got fooled by one of the "Sweet Talkers" here.

In conclusion

…. once again, as with the term "antioxidants", "stevia" has become the latest "catch phrase", when big business observe that consumers are trying to do better by purchasing a healthy whole food, and these same corporations swoop in create to their own versions of the product. These corporate versions often stray away from the natural whole food that the product once was, and it becomes a product that possibly should be left alone. So in the end, READ AND UNDERSTAND YOUR LABELS!

also, see my article on the Top 10 Sweeteners to AVOID: the devil is in the details

~stay healthy~

you might also like…….

"The Coconut Oil Project"
(…how to identify the highest quality Coconut Oil)

"The Manuka Project"
(…finding the real Manuka Honey)

"The Butter Project"
(…is any real Grass Fed Butter left on the Planet?)

"The BPA Project"
(…the quest for non-BPA lined cans)

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