Stevia is not a sweetener that is approved for use by the FDA. It is actually classified as a dietary supplement, an herb, that happens to be sweeter than sugar and can be - and is - used as a sweetener. It is all natural, has no calories (or carbs) and is getting more and more popular, though it makes up only a small portion of the non-sugar sweetener market.

Its popularity is due to an increased awareness for the product, thanks to well-placed advertisements and hard work on the part of the SweetLeaf Stevia brand's LA marketing firm, which has made sure that high end restaurants and even stores carry the product, prompting even more coverage from newspapers and magazines.

The only problem with Stevia, according to both the manufacturers and consumers, is that it is still hard to find. Not all stores carry it. Some stores, like Trader Joe's, try to make the product easily visible, but because it is an herb, it is often stocked in the supplements aisle in other stores, not in the section of the market with the sugars and sweeteners. Clearly this is not a huge setback, however, because the sales of the sweetener are steadily increasing. In the last year alone, they have increased almost 40%, though overall sales are only one tenth of the sales of Splenda, the top selling non-sugar sweetener.

If the interest in the product keeps growing at this rate - and it seems likely to - we could see Stevia become more widely available and used in more packaged products in place of artificial sugars.

Millions of people drink aspartame each day in their diet sodas and other sugar-free foods, though there are many other sweetener options to choose from. The brand name artificial sweeteners made with aspartame include Equal and Nutra-Sweet. In the past, study results have suggested that there might be a link between aspartame consumption and increased risk of some types of cancer, particularly when aspartame consumption was unusually high. Virtually all of these previous studies were in groups of rats, not people, and the amount of aspartame given to rats was up to several times their body weight - a feat which might be physically impossibly to do via diet cola consumption.

A new federal study has looked at people, not rodents, and shows that there was no increased cancer risk from aspartame consumption. The researchers in the study looked at over 500,000 American diets to draw their conclusions. The study has been praised by consumer groups and was presented to the American Association of Cancer research earlier this week. (Our sister blog - The Cancer Blog - is also talking about this study.)

 

 New studies show that preference for artificial sweeteners is based on a lack of extraneous flavors in the sweetener, not not the sweetness level of the substance. Thirteen sweeteners were rated according to how prevalent bitter, sour or metallic tastes were in them. Sugar was, not surprisingly, ranked the highest in the test. Sucralose, also known as Splenda, was the second most popular sweetener, with a "lack of noticeable sour and bitter tastes." Xylitol (a sweetener commonly used in chewing gum), aspartame (Equal and Nutra-Sweet), saccharine (Sweet N'Low) and Stevia were also ranked highly by tasters. Sugar is the standard when creating artificial sweeteners, so it makes sense that the products that tasted most like sugar would be the most popular.

What sweetener do you prefer when sugar isn't available?

Aside from the claim of "Zero calories!", which may or may not be considered a benefit, Splenda can not be considered to be "health food." The popular artificial sweetener is just that: artificial. This week, however, the FDA decided that some foods that use Splenda can claim limited health benefits because of the fact that they contain the sweetener. Following a request from the McNeil Nutritionals, which manufactures Splenda , the FDA is allowing products made with Splenda to state that they do not promote tooth decay. The claim cannot be made for the sweetener alone. Companies that wish to make use of the health claim must use the following wording: Frequent eating of foods high in sugars and starches as between-meal snacks can promote tooth decay. Sucralose, the sweetening ingredient used to sweeten this food, unlike sugars, does not promote tooth decay.

Last year, retail giant Wal-Mart pulled Splenda brand products from its shelves and began to test market a product called Altern. Altern is Wal-Mart's own brand of the artificial sweetener sucralose. According to CNN, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart revealed that the company is planning to have all of its supercenters fully stocked with Altern by the end of this month, while a spokesperson from Tate & Lyle, the company that distributes Splenda, issued a statement assuring investors that this new product would have no effect on its own sucralose division.

Despite the T&L assurance, it seems likely that Splenda would experience some drop off in direct-to-consumer sales as Wal-Mart replaces its products. Altern's release should not have an effect on the use of Splenda by food and drink manufacturers, however.

My lemonade taste test generated a flurry of responses. It seems that quite a few people have opinions about the sugar derived substitute and even though Splenda has been around for a while now, I don't think I'm the only one who never really used it at home. The lemonade worked out pretty well, with the Splenda tasting very good, even when compared to the sugar-sweetened version. One comment on my previous post suggested that sweetening plain yogurt might be a more interesting way to use the sweetener.

Did you know that Splenda is 600 times sweeter than sugar? I didn't and probably put a bit too much Splenda into that batch of yogurt. At least, I think I put too much Splenda in. Though the artificially sweetened yogurt wasn't unpleasant, the taste of sweetness overwhelmed the actual flavor of the yogurt, reminding me almost exactly of commercially sweetened products. The yogurt sweetened with sugar was sweet, but the sweetness enhanced the tang and flavor of my yogurt, rather than masking it. I would use Splenda again, but would be very conservative in how much I used so the flavor wouldn't compete with the yogurt. In this round of Splenda vs. sugar, though, sugar definitely comes out ahead.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]