STEVIA - the FDA Will Soon Decide Whether it is Friend or Foe
Although Stevia has been available in the U.S. for years, it has never been permitted to carry the label of "sweetener". That is about to change, pending the final decision by the FDA, of course. If all goes well, Stevia will be labeled as a sweetener and will be used to sweeten many of our processed foods and drinks, which will be extremely beneficial to all the diabetics in this country.
The Stevia Plant is native to Paraguay and has been used long-term as a sweetener and food supplement in that country. In the past, search and seizure actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have caused this natural plant to be treated more like an illegal drug than the food supplement and sweetener that it truly is.
Stevia is a low-calorie, low-glycemic-impact sweetener made from the natural Stevia Plant grown in South America. Stevia has been used in many other countries for years, including Japan and Paraguay. In the United States it is available in specialty stores, health food stores and in a few other locations, but has never been widely available for purchase and has not yet been allowed to be labeled as a sweetener. Once the FDA decides to use it as a sweetener and allows the labeling to reflect the use of Stevia for that purpose, things will change drastically.
Cargill currently makes the stevia-based sweetener called True Via. Merisant also makes a stevia-based sweetener called Pure Via. Both companies claim their product is safe and international scientists at The World Health Organization agree with them.
It seems that many companies are patiently waiting for FDA approval of this plant based sweetener, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola who are ready to produce soft drinks sweetened with this non-nutritive, diabetic-friendly sweetener.
According to Wikipedia, Stevia is a genus of about 240 herbs and plants in the sunflower family. Stevia extract has 300 times the sweetness of sugar, which means a little Stevia goes a long ways.
Stevia has shown promise in medical research for improving such conditions as obesity, high blood pressure,and diabetes. Stevia has a low glycemic impact and has been found to enhance glucose tolerance, making it a wonderful sweetener for diabetics and others on low-carbohydrate diets.
How soon will the Food and Drug Administration act on this product? That remains to be seen, but at least things are moving in the right direction for the Stevia Plant.
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=6374075&page=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia
http://www.stevia.net/
Published by Vicki Messer
In 1997 I began a personal journey of healing from years of childhood sexual abuse. For the better part of 10 years, I worked my way through the painful repressed memories of incest at the hands of several... View profile
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- Stevia has been allowed to carry the label "dietary supplement" but not sweetener
- Stevia has been treated like an illegal drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Coke and Pepsi are waiting patiently for the release of Stevia as a sweetener