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Stevia - who uses it, any down sides?

LittleGreyCat

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
4,386
Location
Suffolk, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
I'm ramping up to Xmas treats and looking at an almond flour recipe for a chocolate cake.

Most (nearly all) recipes seem to use Stevia as the alternative to sugar to add sweetness.

I think it is generally held to be O.K. as it is a plant extract (but then so is sugar).

Any experiences, both good and bad?
 
I use it in Cocoa. No problems for me.
 
I use pure Stevia drops in cocoa and Erythritol for anything like baking that requires a granular sweettener - cant stand the taste of Granulated stevia products like Truvia Erythritol is generally seen as one of the healthiest sweeteners
 
Sweeteners are not a substance I use, not since I found the truth about Aspartame.
The manufacturing process of extracting the sweeteners from an otherwise inocuous little plant (Stevia) involves around 40 steps which involves the use of Acetone, Methanol, Ethanol, Acenonitrile and Isopropanol.

As it was Monsanto (the parent company also responsible for Glyphosate which should be banned imo and the nicotinoids that are responsible for, some boffins are convinced, the decimation of pollinating insects such as bees and wasps) who made Aspartame and now the new gen sweeteners, why on earth would I trust them.
Originally, the FDA in North America refused to even give sweeteners the label of 'food' and so there was no onus of responsibility to test Aspartame as a food and it was given a label of GRAS which is Generally Regarded As Safe. That is not enough for me. After using Aspartame for twenty years I am so mad with myself that I didn't look into it sooner and even more mad since I read a short peice recently that showed the incidence of brain tumours to be higher in those who had used it than in the those who did not.
Monsanto are, I beleive, planning to join forces with Bayer. This actually worries me even more. If I can avoid all of their products (they even sell terminator seeds to subsistance farmers, how greedy is that?) then I will do.

Sorry for the rant but at least now some of you will understand my reluctance to use these products and will not be offended by my constant questions about them when I see posts for low carb recipes.
 
Just to add (sorry) as to the physical effects, there is a body of opinion that sweeteners have an adverse affect on gut biota and can lead to detrimental 'leaks' in the gut wall possibly leading to the body's immune system recognising the gut flora as alien and therefor *may* be a cause or trigger for such conditions as IBD and IBS but much more research is needed before concrete claims can be made. Something that I keep my eye out for.
 
It’s a bit late now but it’s easy to grow. I grew one indoors last year and I have the dried leaves.
 
wiflib said:
It’s a bit late now but it’s easy to grow. I grew one indoors last year and I have the dried leaves.
Click to expand...

How did you grow it, indoors? I would be interested in how you use the natural leaves and its taste.
 
The downside for me with stevia (Truvia) is the bleurgh aftertaste! First time I made some granola the recipe called for 80g of Swerve so I chucked in the equivalent of Truvia (new to all this and not knowing what Swerve was). Not a good idea. The recipe also had 15-20 drops of stevia. A very expensive feed for the bin! I find the liquid stevia better regarding aftertaste but am saving my pennies to buy some erythritol (having just bought a mountain of seeds, ground almonds etc) for the small amount of baking I do, as I have heard that is the best.
 
I had a look around locally and the offerings seemed to be 99% Xylitol to give the white bulk and 1% Stevia to give extra sweetness.
I didn't buy any because I didn't particularly want to add the Xylitol. It may be O.K. but I think it is mainly there to give the look and feel of sugar. Oh, and intestinal eruptions.
Still looking for a source of liquid Stevia.
 
A lot of the cheaper versions of the new gen sweeteners contain sugars from by products of the alcohol industry. Read the labels, folks.
 
I found liquid stevia in my local healthfood shop. Amazon stocks it, although I try to buy locally. It was fairly expensive but you don't need (or I don't need much). Ah yes, intestinal eruptions. Xylitol does strange things to me....
 
Guzzler said:
A lot of the cheaper versions of the new gen sweeteners contain sugars from by products of the alcohol industry. Read the labels, folks.
Click to expand...
The story of aspartame is an eye-opener. I believe it has now been banned in the US but not elsewhere. I was never keen on diet soft drinks and always had 'full-fat' tonic water. Today I had a diet tonic and it was incredibly sweet and totally masked the gin (!). I would like a G&T or two at Christmas but therein lies the dilemma: go for diet and the too-sweet artificial sweetener (most likely aspartame) or the sugar content in the real stuff? (I don't test - not told to by GP, and my choice/decision.)
 

Sorry, I am teetotal so my decisions re a G&T are already made. I would suppose that the occasional tipple after an otherwise low carb meal would not have a great impact but without testing you would only be guessing. I test but we each have our own choices and must be respected for having made those choices. Hope you can enjoy a nice wee drinkipoos over the coming festive season.
 
Thanks, @Guzzler - I wish you the (non-alcoholic) same!
 
I attended a local version of the DESMOND course. The discussion turned to alcohol and the Diabetic Nurse giving the course said "Gin and Slimline Tonic" before any question was asked - what a giveaway!
 
I find Slimline Tonic made with sucralose preferable to some of the other artificially-sweetened tonics. M.m.m. might be time for a little tipple and the final of Strictly!
 
Last edited:
Guzzler said:
How did you grow it, indoors? I would be interested in how you use the natural leaves and its taste.
Click to expand...

I bought some seeds online and stuck them in some soil. There’s detailed but very easy growing guides online that I followed and I got two big plants.
The green leaf is VERY sweet and I guess you could chop it up and add it to infusions or fruity things.
The dried leaf I’ve crumbled into things like custards and ice creams but I’ve not baked with it as I try not to engage my sweet tooth addiction too often.

http://hub.suttons.co.uk/gardening-advice/growing-guides/flower-growing-guides/stevia-growing-guide

Harvest the leaves before the flowers show for more sweetness and less bitter aftertaste and dry away from direct heat.
 
Ta very much, I am happy to use a naturally sweet product occasionally.
 
I buy fevertree tonic water when I have a very rare gin [probably about six a year] and it says on the label it is naturally sweet. I think I'm going to have to google it!

Just googled it. It contains fructose and total carbs 3.8
 
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