Stevia Dangers

In a previous post I have spoken about creatine side effects. But are there any conclusive evidences against stevia dangers? Stevia is being frequently reported as the best ever substitute for ordinary sugar and stevia dangers are simply rumors that are being circulated by a handful of vested interest in the market. Stevia has not made a sudden appearance in our planet, but has remained as a sweet plant for centuries. The Japanese have been extracting the sugar from the plant for the past 30 years and have not convincingly found any bad effects.

It is now quite evident that the false propaganda of the product has been passed on by those merchants and businessmen who are likely to be affected by the sale of stevia products.

 What is Stevia?

Stevia is a naturally occurring plant with green leaves and belongs to the sunflowers family. It has a natural sweetener which when extracted can taste as good as ordinary sugar sold in the market. The herb was in controversy among different scholars as to the side effects that it caused to some people although there is no clear evidence for this argument.

Although ordinary sugar and sugar extracts have been in the daily use by all people around the world the effects of increasing sugar levels have caused numerous health problems. Since then the search for a proper substitute has been a priority among the scientific community. When this harmless plant with green leaves was spotted none knew that it would be a blessing for the patients suffering from diabetes, high blood pressures and other ailments.

Since then the research has become a rage with several interested institute doing their level best to bring out the truth behind the rumors of stevia dangers in front of the public. What they found was really amazing. The plant they found to their delight was an herb devoid of calories and carbohydrates.

Extracts from stevia soon hit the market as both in its raw form and refined form. The raw form is a green powder that is made from the dried out leaves of the stevia plant while the refined extract was a white powder.

Stevia takes on the Ordinary sugar

The product advantages from stevia have greatly outweighed the criticisms that it faced from certain quarters. For instance, it was a new product and there were manufacturers and merchants in the market who were quite unwilling to accept a product with no actual sugar in it yet having a wonderful sweetener effect. Obviously, they reasoned that stevia would gradually bite into their market share of ordinary sugar.

The product is beneficial for young and old alike and for those who are suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure stevia can be a real substitute. This is because stevia reduces the level of sugar in the body and lowers the blood pressure. Yet there is a word of caution for those under medication. Although stevia is a good substitute for sugar, when consumed regularly, it can suddenly turn the body into a low blood pressure system. Here, the doctor’s close monitoring is advised.

However, the most welcome news is that after much pondering the FDA finally put its stamp of approval for use of stevia as a food product. In fact, the FDA has been reluctant to grant this status due to the ongoing studies about stevia dangers many of which were being promoted by vested interests.

Studies have revealed that stevia was in use as a food and medicinal item among the Native Americans of Paraguay for centuries which in fact gives enough credence to the plant as being harmless. Further, the highly cleanliness minded and health conscious community of Japan has allowed stevia to capture 40% of the sugar market. This by itself speaks volumes about the safety of the product.

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Then there is contradiction about the research reports that are being made available in the media. It has been seen that there are two schools of thoughts, one which heavily criticizes stevia while the other which extols its virtues.

Stevia Dangers

Previously I have written a post on Stevia Dangers-Explained. Here I will try to explain more on the potential dangers of stevia. The stevia herb is being highlighted by research as the best alternative to sugar. The sweetening effect of the plant has been found to be rather harmless yet there are a few cases which show the opposite side of the picture too. The sugar from this plant in the form of extract has a tendency to lower the body sugar level and blood pressure level. This can be alarming to patients who have low blood pressure and who are under medication from such illness for a while.

Further, it has been seen that continuous intake of stevia by pregnant woman can result in health problems yet there is still more research needed into these areas. Besides, the side effects caused by stevia are dizziness, muscular pains, nausea and stomach problems have been reported from both males and females alike. This again, is short lived as there is no evidence of long periods of illness.

Another fact that has come to light is whether stevia has contraceptive effect or whether it is a carcinogen. The former creates problems in fertility while the latter can cause cancer. Both of these are still not proven which shows that stevia dangers has been blown out of all proportion by mischievous elements of the society. In the next post, I will discuss more on stevia side effects.