What Are the Dangers of Stevia Sweetner?
Stevia is plant belonging to the sunflower family, a genus with hundreds of different species, all of which are native to Central and South America. Out of all of these small perennial shrubs, only one species has been used for hundreds of years to sweeten tea and food. This species is stevia rebaudiana, and its leaves are considered to be 30 times sweeter than sugar, while extracts are reportedly 300 times sweeter. Although the plant itself has been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the potent extract called stevioside has only been used for 25 years and has been the subject of numerous conflicting studies. Some studies found stevioside to have numerous alarming side effects, including contraceptive properties, harmful reproductive effects, toxicity of the kidneys, hypoglycemia or hypotension and cancer. These potential dangers were challenged by other studies that found stevioside to have a very low toxicity and little to no side effects.
