Stevia

[tysonetta]

Re: truvia

Hi - I am a new user of this site. I logged on because it came up in a search about Truvia. I understand we cannot buy this in the UK but I am not yet clear as to exactly why. I care for my 87 year old Mother who has late onset Type 2 and wonder if, at her age, side effects are an issue - whatever they are. I have tried Splenda in cooking for her but I find it has an 'empty' taste so I don't like to use it myself which means cooking two dishes at a time.

Is Truvia different? I can get this via a friend in America but am asking what the side effects are - the only one actually mentioned is about sterility in men which will not bother me in the least!

I would be grateful for any kind knowledgable soul who can help.

Tysonetta.

 

[Dennis]

Hi Tysonetta and welcome to the forum.

Truvia is a new version of Stevia. It was produced jointly by Cargill Corporation (a large US agri-chemical company) and Coca Cola, and is what Coca Cola hope to use in all their diet drinks worldwide to replace aspartame. It was only approved as safe to use by the American FDA in December and approval from UK and European authorities has not yet been applied for, so it won't be on sale in the UK for some time. It appears that the American authorities are now happy that the new product does not have the safety issues that Stevia had, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be approved here.

 

[tysonetta]

Thanks for that, Dennis . I reckon it is worth a try, nanny-state notwithstanding. I loathe the taste of aspartame and the like so if this is better it can't be all bad. I am sure those side effects won't affect my 87 year old Mum that much.

regards - tysonetta.

 

[misssjs]

The health concerns that "may" be linked to Stevia are nothing compared to that of Aspartame, Asulphate K and the various other vile man made sweeteners that are actually not food at all but chemical compounds. The problem with that is that they go straight through the blood brain barrier and cause havoc as aspartame actually contains wood ethanol which breaks down into formaldehyde (Embalming fluid) also things are not meant to get through there, hence the name "barrier". The other problem is that nearly all diet foods, childrens sweets, diet drinks, cereals in fact almost anything in a packet contains one or the other of these nasty poisons and guess what folks....which industry is one of the richest in the world...thats right, the diet industry, would it be affected if we all knew the truth........?

Sweeteners dont even work as the body has a learned response so when it tastes something sweet it still releases some insulin but Stevia does not do this. I am a personal trainer and nutritionist and have been taking it for at least six months as have my clients with no adverse effects. In fact my clients are naturally using less and less of it as it does not have the addictive qualities of sugar or sweeteners. Stevia is infact used as a dietary tonic in some countries as it is thought to be good for you. I put it to you folks that it suits the fat cats for us to think that Stevia is bad for us as this only leaves us their evil products...oh and Stevia is unpatentable as it is a natural product so they cant even cash in on it, another reason we dont know about it??

 

[cugila]

Stevioside import ban

Stevioside is a very strong sweetener, made from the stevia plant. It is 250 to 300 times sweeter than sucrose and has been used for a number of years as a sweetener in South America, Asia, Japan and China.

But stevia and stevioside and food products containing them are not allowed to be sold in the UK or most of the rest of the EU.
This is because they did not pass EU safety assessments. So you cannot import any food products or supplements containing stevia or stevioside.