It’s an exotic herb. It grows in South America, Central America, Mexico, and Asia. Native peoples from these regions have used it as a nostrum for centuries to treat all manner of conditions. Its scientific name, Stevia rebaudiana, is impressive, and it’s been the subject of scientific investigation for years. Sounds like a cure for cancer or a drug to treat dementia, maybe a possible drug to prevent aids? Nope, it’s nothing as humanitarian as that. Stevia, you see, is easy to cultivate, the extract made from its leaves is 300 times sweeter than refined sugar, and it contains no calories.
No war on cancer here. It’s Coke and Pepsi. They’re at it again. You see, soda sales are down. Ah, but obesity rates are up. What each of the two giant beverage companies want and need is a block-buster diet soda. Enter Coke, which, with the help of agricultural wizard Cargill, has refined the heck out of stevia, to eliminate its licorice-like aftertaste, and come up with Truvia, the uber sweetener.
Not far behind, Pepsi and its ingredient buddy, Merisant, have been test-tubing themselves and now have their own tincture of stevia, which they call PureVia. Yep, our two ever-warring beverage makers are looking for the Holy Grail, a No-Cal Soda Sale.
However, there is a third party involved in this no-love-lost triangle — that regulation-wielding hussy, the FDA, which forbids the use of stevia in food products. (Little Miss FDA is not as pure as the driven snow in this triangle; the agency does allow stevia to be sold as a food supplement. That is, it can be and is sold in powdered and liquid form and is usually available at natural and health food outlets and pharmacies.)
Coke and Pepsi have sponsored their own tests, which, as could be expected, found no harmful effects from the use of their versions of stevia. The companies are waiting for the FDA to allow its use in foods.
Past studies have suggested that stevia might interfere with reproduction, as well as possibly being mutagenic and/or carcinogenic. A just-released independent study, conducted at the University of California (which has no ties to any stevia product) suggests that the sweetener might cause chromosomal damage and DNA breakage.
Testing on humans being unethical, FDA guidelines advise potential food additives be tested on two rodent species, usually rats and mice. So far, tests have only been conducted on rats. And while a safe, natural, non-caloric sweetener would be a good thing for our expanding waistlines (as well as for Coke and Pepsi coffers), the FDA should not allow stevia, in any of its iterations, to enter the food chain until further studies establish that it is safe.
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