Diabetes and Stevia

Diabetes can be aided greatly by using Stevia as a sweetener. While sugar raises blood sugar levels, playing havoc with insulin levels, many diabetics have found how hard it can be to avoid the sweet taste altogether. And taking Aspartame actually causes more craving for sugars. All the artificial sweeters on the market have dire health consequences, but Stevia has no side effects, and actually lowers the blood sugar when it is too high. Stevia has been used as a treatment for diabetes in Germany and Japan. 500 studies have been done showing its safety. It is only the politics of the sugar and artificial sweetener industry that keeps us from being able to buy foods with Stevia as the sweetener. But it is available in powdered and liquid form and can be used in the home very easily.

Stevia has been used for centuries in South America, and for twenty years in Japan, Korea, and China. It is 4-50 percent of Japan's sweetener market. It is a perennial shrub native to Paraguay. In Latin America, Stevia is used as therapy for diabetes, as it normalizes the response to glucose, especially in type two.

Diabetes tends to be accompanied by high blood pressure and edema, and slow healing wounds, and Stevia has been shown to help all these symptoms. It affects calcium transport similarly to calcium channel blockers. It has a diuretic effect, and antiseptic properties.

Aspartame actually can diabetes, keeping blood sugar out of control, and it can cause diabetics to go into convulsion. It ruins the optic nerve. The worst thing a diabetic can crave is carbohydrates, which would lead to more sugar imbalances, and Aspartame makes people crave those. Dr. H.J. Roberts, a specialist in diabetes and Aspartame, showed in his studies a shocking weight gain by people who use it. He described this is his Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic. Dr. Roberts showed many diabetics who had their blood sugar levels thrown out of whack by Aspartame.

Dr. John Olney showed in his twenty year studies that Aspartame damages the parts of the brain relating to endocrine function, which leads to obesity. Yet, Aspartame accounts for 70 percent of the complete sweetener use in the United States. And obesity is one of the main contributing factors to diabetes.

Dr. Louis Elsas testified from his studies that Aspartame triggers birth defects and mental retardation. Japan also released a study in which Aspartame causes DNA damage and infertility. They have reported no ill effects from using Stevia heavily over the last two decades.

Dr. James Bowen says, in Aspartame Murders Infants, that it destroys the sexual performance, as well as the health of the fetus. Diabetics commonly have problems with sexual function, and need no added substances to interfer with pleasure.

Tens of thousands of complaints have been made about Aspartame, and studies show it causes brain tumors, headaches, seizures, and blindness. See the book, The Stevia Story, by Linda Bonvie, Bill Bonvie, and Donna Gates.

Other artificial sweeteners are problematic as well, with saccharin being well known to cause cancer, and Asculfame K being shown to have the same effect. Splenda has been shown to cause autoimmune disease. Using artificial chemicals is inherently difficult for the body, whereas Stevia is simply made from the leaves of the sweet plant.

Brazilian researchers evaluated the role of stevia in blood sugar (Curi, 1986). Subjects were given Stevia every six hours for three days. A glucose tolerance test (GTT) was done. The people in the control group not given Stevia who had a predisposition to diabetes showed marked rise in blood sugar levels. The subjects receiving Stevia had significantly lower blood sugar levels.

Stevia is bitter if used incorrectly. When using the powdered forms, or very concentrated liquids, add drop by drop gingerly, tasting as you go, or your food or drink may be ruined, as it is 300 times sweeter than sugar, which translates strangely enough, into the bitter taste. However, there are brands on the market that are less concentrated, making sweetening with it a little easier. But diabetics especially should be aware that some brands cut the Stevia with forms of sugar, and these should be avoided.

Stevia is excellent in tea, lemonade, hot chocolate, and coffee. It's good to keep a bottle with you when you go out to coffee shops. It is also excellent in baking, though it does not take up as much room in the recipes as sugar, so often, using another substance to account for the bulk is recommended. For example, if baking bran muffins, you can add ground nuts in the place of sugar. It is good in Thai stirfries, with coconut milk and a non sweet Thai paste. If you are able to eat fruits, preferably the less sweet ones, like berries, you can make small smoothies and add stevia for a taste treat. Puddings, custards, pies, and milkshakes made from scratch and sweetened with Stevia are also fantastic ways for diabetics to enjoy deserts without danger of raising the blood sugar.

Why should diabetics have to suffer through watching others eat delicious foods when they can also enjoy a wide variety of them themselves, gratifying the human need for pleasure, in a natural, beneficial way. Diabetics-image desert being your medicine. And smile.