"The Project" series of my blog is where I "deep dive" into researching a particular food or product. 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 product Truvia, a creation of Cargill, which promotes Truvia as "made with stevia". I consider this to be VERY misleading advertising. The product is basically made with a stevia derivative called Rebiana, created from stevia leaves by steeping them in water. Thus, they say "contains stevia" or "made with stevia" but Rebiana is not Stevia in it's traditional sense. There have been concerns about Rebiana being a "mutagen", defined as any substance that may alter genes. This product a million miles away from the traditional whole food that is the stevia leaf that has been used for centuries. Anyone consuming Truvia should read this article .
I 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.
So 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!!~dw~
"The Project" series of my blog is where I "deep dive" into researching a particular food or product. 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 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.
So 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!!~dw~