Comments on: Truvia and PureVia: The Controversy of Stevia

By: jane

jane — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:18:00 +0000

jennifer, i would try eight ounces of water with an ounce of unsweetened cranberry juice with psyllium added, do it first thing in the morning and last thing at night, you will see a great difference in your regularity, these are two totally natural ingredients, i have been doing it since the first of december, and feel great, it is also suppose to detox your liver, the fat burning organ of the body. after reading all of this stuff, i will stop adding the stevia in the raw as it is really unnecessary and may be harming me/counteracting the good the juice is doing to detox my digestive system.

By: Mluebke

Mluebke — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:28:00 +0000

Is it true that the FDA has now approved stevia as a sweetener?

By: JDintheOC

JDintheOC — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Question is…how do you want to go? Naturally or pushed off a cliff?

By: Segrick

Segrick — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:46:00 +0000

Being that this article is over two years old, I wonder about it’s current validity, in that more information should be available by now. I got off Truvia and switched over to Stevia in the Raw because it tastes better than either Truvia, Pure Via or Sun Crystals…..at least to me.

By: mamucas

mamucas — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:01:00 +0000

It’s funny how people look for a safe sweetener when humanity has always had one, safe, natural and delicious, it’s called sugar, comes from sugar canes and if you consume it moderately it won’t have any side effects, give the finger to all these corporations and our corrupted government by simply hitting them where it hurts them the most, their greedy pockets by not buying thier B.S. miracle product. Just my two cents. =)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:17:00 +0000

They aren’t our “servants” and never really have been. As soon as there’s a new gov’t agency, you can be sure that the lobbyists are there too. They add massive cost, decrease innovation, and only further corporatism. (Know the difference between corporatism and capitalism–huge difference.)

I’ve worked with the FDA before as a process scientist for a medical device company, and they are mostly a bunch of buffoons who do nothing to improve safety.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:11:00 +0000

Why such a nasty reply? I’m a chemist, and find his analysis reasonable. For instance, is there a difference between pure ethanol produced by fermentation & distillation vs. pure ethanol made in a lab? No there is not.

His response was not a condemnation of filtration (which is “refining” by the way), it was a criticism of the language used, which was somewhat misleading about various terms.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:57:00 +0000

The article illustrates the politics of food in this country. If a company has enough money , power, and political influence, it can get FDA approval for a new product, irregardless of whether it is safe or not. Look closely and you will see that many of the people who serve on the government boards making these decisions are former executives of major food companies … bias with a capital B. The article failed to mention why Cargill and Coca-Cola are so keen on Reb A (rebiana). It’s 300 times more sweet than sugar and it is non-caloric. If they can corner the market on the stuff, they will control the sugar-free beverage industry. They can claim Reb A is natural (stevia, right?) and entice people away from the artificial sweeteners, like Nutrasweet. But everyone should keep in mind that Truvia is a manufactured product, not a natural product. As a manufactured product, it has undergone chemical extraction from stevia accompanied by chemical purification, i.e. it’s a factory processed food ingredient. If you want to be healthy, it’s best to stay away from or at least minimize any foods that you eat that were born in factories. This summer in Central Illinois as a lark, I grew a stevia plant. It did quite well. The leaves have a sweet taste. However, I’ve never been real crazy about stevia due to its aftertaste and the unpredictability of the purity from suppliers. I started using it in the 1990′s as a sugar replacement, but I never got hooked to it. But, if you like it, I agree with other comments about buying stevia as a natural product and avoid the over-refined products produced by food conglomerates.

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:06:00 +0000

OK! I’m headed there right now!

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:05:00 +0000

If it tastes good, eat it! Is my motto. We are all destined to die anyways, so, if its by sweeteners or chemicals, so be it!

By: PS

PS — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:14:00 +0000

I am just going to use regular, old sugar. This is all too confusing to know who is right!

By: Still_h2o

Still_h2o — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:33:00 +0000

I recently bought a box of Truevia packets – the ingredients listed there are not the same as the ones in this article – first is dextrose, then reb a, cellulose powders and natural flavors. Does the dextrose listing mean that the formula has changed since this article was written? I noticed that I have more heart burn since I’ve been using this which was a problem with splenda as well.

By: Melorello

Melorello — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:27:00 +0000

Stevia plants are simple to take care of. Pull a few leaves off & there’s your sweetener, unrefined and totally natural.

By: Mzjwadi

Mzjwadi — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Yes, I use Sun Crystals and like it quite a bit. It has much less biter aftertaste than Stevia alone, and very little sugar. You may want to give it a try…

By: Christa Snow

Christa Snow — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 20:23:00 +0000

no genius, drink filtered water because of the HIGH CONCENTRATIONS of harsh chemicals in unfiltered tap water.

By: Mommasaurus

Mommasaurus — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:07:00 +0000

I forgot to mention that the Sun Crystals brand is sponsored by the American Diabetes Association. Whether that gives it credence or not, do some research!

By: Mommasaurus

Mommasaurus — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:58:00 +0000

I have been using Stevia for a year now. First, I started with “Stevia in the Raw” and another brand, both of which tasted fine to me. Then, after some research, I switched to “SweetLeaf,” because of the fact that no chemicals at all are added. My husband thought this had a bitter taste, but he doesn’t usually sweeten his drinks. I use this in iced tea, hot tea, and hot coffee and have never tasted a bit of bitterness! I must admit, though, that I have not yet tried baking with any stevia product.
Last week, I discovered Sun Crystals, a mix between sugar and stevia, with no additives. I don’t intent to stay with this one, because of the actual sugar; but, it is delicious!

By: stevelf

stevelf — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:46:00 +0000

Definitely just buy pure-whole-leaf Stevia from a reputed, dedicated company like “Sweet Leaf”…..piss off to pureVia and TruVia, etc…
Demonstrate that we are not so DECEIVABLE !!!!!!!!!!!

By: stevelf

stevelf — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:40:00 +0000

typical smoke and mirrors—– Stevia is NOT new on the marketplace— been there for MANY years– now Carghill and Merisant are going to try to fraudulently ride the Stevia -health-food-anti-Aspartame-wave with a tweaked-Stevia-product that actually only contains 12% pure-leaf-Stevia, AS OPPOSED TO A PURE-LEAF STEVIA PRODUCT LIKE SWEET LEAF !!!!!!!!!!!! As usual, BUYER BEWARE OF THIS DIS-INGENUIS BULLSHIT, ATROCITY, OUTRAGE !!!!!!!! GET EDUCATED !!!!!!!!

By: bb

bb — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:55:00 +0000

Hoping that Stevia was finally available on the market, I bought PureVia a year ago but could not make myself to use it. I tried it today, and after detecting a refined food taste, I was looking for some insight. I read your report with fascination finding validation to my suspicion that PureVia is not Stevia per se.
If a product is not called the name of a plant from which it is extracted, if a Trade Mark sign stands by the name, we know processing, politics and manipulations of interest groups are involved. And as you posted, while non pasteurized honey is beneficial not only sweet, the refined sugar is toxic.
As Michael Pollan said, “vote with your fork”, I am disposing PureVia right away.
Thank you for the eloquent article.