Too Good To Be Truvia?
When looking to buy some more Sweet ‘N Low packets, I noticed a fairly new sugar-free sweetener called Truvia. It is made primarily from stevia plant leaves that have been boiled. And unlike the saccharine in Sweet N Lo, it does not have a bitter taste. In fact, it tastes very sweet, almost exactly like cane sugar! I gulped down a pack (or two) right out of the box – very tasty! And made from plants, not chemicals! Too good to be true? I wanted to know, so I did some searching.
The stevia plant seems to be surrounded by a bit of controversy. Disrupt metabolism? Male reproduction problems? Cancer?!? Read some more about these concerns at http://www.steviacafe.net/dangers-of-stevia. And yes, indeed, male reproduction problems occurred in lab animals consuming large amounts of stevia. So “natural” does not always automatically mean “good” – If so then we would have no concerns smoking rolled up tobacco leaves or drinking nightshade tea!
Bottom line: You will probably be just fine using stevia in small amounts – a packet or two a day in your tea should not cause concern. But I might be a bit wary in substituting it for the 1 cup of sugar your zuchinni bread recipe calls for.
I think I might go back to my sacharrine sweetener once my Truvia is gone as I continue to cut down my sugar intake. Sacharrine has been around a long, long time (since 1878) and has a proven track record of being fairly safe.