dangers of Stevia?

[Guest guest]

That page of " dangers " shows several red flags that undermine its arguments

against stevia. The results when " male rats were fed high doses of stevioside

for 22 months " doesn't tell us how high the doses were or even whether they were

fed properly otherwise. Or when " female hamsters were fed large amounts of a

derivative of stevioside called steviol " . Derivatives are not the same and

again we're not told how large the amounts were.

 

Another " danger " : " In the laboratory, steviol can be converted into a mutagenic

compound, which may promote cancer " . Well, practically any substance can be

converted into cancer-causing compounds. No scientist would call that a test of

stevia itself.

 

Worse: " Very large amounts of stevioside can interfere with the absorption of

carbohydrates in animals and disrupt the conversion of food into energy within

cells. " No evidence of any kind cited to support this, and again no definition

of " very large amounts " .

 

Considering its use by millions, isn't it odd that's all the sources for

" dangers " they can find. And who knows what lobby paid for those " scientific

studies " .

 

Given they can't name a single incident of illness or symptoms caused by stevia

among the millions around the world who use it daily, their thin arguments are

suspicious. Plus given the widespread health problems from normal use of refined

sugar and artificial sweeteners, it's curious why the FDA bans stevia's use as a

sweetener on the grounds they don't have enough evidence to support its safety.

They have no evidence of its dangers, but plenty of evidence for the dangers of

the other sweeteners.

 

I'd chalk that article up to the power of the sugar refining industry and the

power of the multinational food companies that own the artificial sweeteners.

Nothing new there.

 

paul NM tradingpost See you at

OWL-OldWaysLiving/

 

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

 

On 11/14/2005 at 3:05 PM herbal remedies wrote:

 

> Mon, 14 Nov 2005 00:46:47 -0000

> " Gala " <jl_3030

>Re: Stevia

>

>Hi Eric, I've looked into it more and there are benefits, but also

>some dangers...here's a link to the dangers--

>

>http://www.cspinet.org/nah/4_00/stevia.html

>

>And here's a link for the benefits--

>

>http://reid_j.tripod.com/stevia.htm

>

>All in all, aspertame seems far worse. Nonetheless, it's good to

>know about this stuff.

>

>Gala