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For years overweight people have turned to artificial sweeteners to satisfy sugar cravings without adding extra calories to their diet. Likewise, diabetics look to artificial sweeteners to avoid raising glucose levels. By far, the most popular artificial sweetener is the neurotoxin, aspartame, more commonly known by the trade names NutraSweet, Equal, and others. As we saw last month in Nancy Markles's article on aspartame, this addictive nerve poison forms formic acid (the poison in fire ants) and formaldehyde (embalming fluid) in temperatures above 86 F. Of course, human body temperature is 98.6 F. Symptoms of aspartame poisoning include: migraines, short-term memory loss, tremors, and symptoms of multiple sclerosis. "Methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus people were being diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, where methanol toxicity is." Other side effects include "fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, and memory loss." Aspartame is also known to trigger systemic lupus.
Quoted from Markle
Stevia, a plant native to Paraguay, can be a viable alternative to aspartame. It is naturally 10 to 30 times sweeter than table sugar, and extracts are as much as 100 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia extracts are currently used as sweetening agents in several countries, including Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Uraguay, Brazil, and Paraguay. In Japan, commercialization of stevia was very rapid, beginning with the ban of artificial sweeteners during the 1960's.
The active sweetening component of Stevia is stevioside, a glycocide molecule composed of glucose, sophorose and steviol. According to most experts, stevia does not effect blood sugar metabolism and some studies report that stevia reduces plasma glucose levels in normal adults. Stevia has been used for many years in the treatment of diabetes among Indians in Paraguay and Brazil.
Although the specific mechanism is not known, in a study conducted at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, researchers found that stevioside enhances insulin secretion from mouse pancreatic islets in the presence of glucose. The researchers state, "Stevioside stimulates insulin secretion via a direct action on pancreatic beta cells. The results indicate that the compounds may have a potential role as an anti-hyperglycemic agent in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus."
In 1995, Dr. M.S. Melis, from the Department of Biology at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, administered extracts of stevia to rats for 20, 40, and 60 days. After 20 days, there were no changes in the stevia-treated rats compared to the control group (the ones that didn't receive the extracts). However, after 40 or 60 days of administering the extract, blood pressure had lowered. Melis also noted a diuretic effect along with loss of sodium. The amount of blood going to the kidneys was increased. In a 1981 Brazilian study, when researcher Boerk gave human volunteers between the ages of 20 and 40 a tea prepared with stevia leaves, a lowering of blood pressure occurred.
So why isn't stevia sold as a sweetener in the United States? Since the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), stevia can be sold legally in the United States, but only as a "dietary supplement." Even so, it can be found in the form of powder and liquid in most health food stores, and is also incorporated into drinks, teas and other items (all labeled as "dietary supplements"). It cannot, however, be called a "sweetener" or even referred to as "sweet." To do so would render the product "adulterated," a food additive not approved by the FDA. Chemical giant Monsanto's aspartame is an approved food additive.
For more information:
http://www.stevia.net
Life With Stevia: How Sweet It Is!
Nutritional and Medicinal Uses
Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D.
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