Re: A question about Stevia

Vernono O wrote:

I use it (both forms) all of the time. Haven't cooked with it.
I prefer it over sugar.
It's natural.

So is nightshade. Natural does not imply safe.

FDA, in all their wisdom kept it off the market for a while but
couldn't justify ANYTHING negative. They are not allowed to say that
it is a sugar substitute on the label. How's that for industry control?

Baloney! FDA had lots of justification for denying
it's use as a food additive.

Here's what the European Union had to say about
the use of stevia extractive:


ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out34_en.pdf


And here's the abstract of an article on
the mutagenic, genotoxic, and liver-damaging
effects of a stevia extractive:


Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Apr;45(4):662-6.
Analysis of genotoxic potentiality of stevioside
by comet assay.
Nunes AP, Ferreira-Machado SC, Nunes RM, Dantas FJ,
De Mattos JC, Caldeira-de-Araujo A.
Departamento de Biofisica e Biometria, Universidade
do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia
Roberto Alcantara Gomes, Av 28 de Setembro, 87,
20551-030 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Stevioside is a natural non-caloric sweetener
extracted from Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) leaves.
It has been widely used in many countries,
including Japan, Korea, China, Brazil and Paraguay,
either as a substitute for sucrose in beverages
and foods or as a household sweetener. The aim of
this work was to study its genotoxic potentiality
in eukaryotic cells. Wistar rats were treated with
stevioside solution (4mg/mL) through oral
administration (ad libitum) and the DNA-induced
damage was evaluated using the single cell gel
electrophoresis (comet assay). The results showed
that treatment with stevioside generates lesions
in peripheral blood, liver, brain and spleen cells
in different levels, the largest effect being in
liver. Therefore, these undesired effects must be
better understood, once the data present here
point to possible stevioside mutagenic properties.
.

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