{"id":1426,"date":"2012-04-04T11:29:39","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T15:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=1426"},"modified":"2012-04-04T11:29:39","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T15:29:39","slug":"truvia-a-true-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/04\/truvia-a-true-solution.html","title":{"rendered":"Truvia — a True Solution?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several of my blog followers have asked me, \u201cWhat about Truvia?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Truvia started out as stevia.\u00a0 The owners of Truvia, Cargill\u00a0 Labs and Coca-Cola, extract the sweet part of the leaf, Rebiana A, and combine it with erythritol, a sugar alcohol.\u00a0 And \u201cnatural flavors.\u201d\u00a0 It has zero calories and no effect on blood sugar levels.\u00a0 The advertising promotes it as stevia with no aftertaste. \u00a0One teaspoon is as sweet as two teaspoons of sugar, and it has no nutritional value.<\/p>\n

Pure Via is the counterpart, owned by Pepsico.\u00a0 The Pure Via Web site proclaims it to be all natural.\u00a0 They call the sweet substance \u201cReb A\u201d and say that it is refined using ethanol from cane sugar.\u00a0 Most of the reviews called both these products \u201cstevia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-sites say that these products are not pure stevia and not natural. However, all the stevia products I\u2019ve seen are processed in some way.\u00a0 I don\u2019t buy the leaves and cook it down in my kitchen.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s the big names associated with unhealthy stuff that makes us a bit nervous.<\/p>\n

There have been a few short-term studies on both animals and humans which have concluded that there are no serious side effects from the products.\u00a0 There are no large or long-term studies completed that I can find.\u00a0 Some of the studies are actually on stevia.\u00a0A Web site for people to list any side effects they have had with Truvia show things like rashes and intestinal problems. Some of these could be in response to the erythritol. Erythritol, like most sugar alcohols, are fermented and then refined.\u00a0 People with extreme sensitivities to yeast might have problems with these.\u00a0 Also, sugar alcohols tend to cause stomach upset, gas, and diarrhea if you overdo on them.\u00a0 That\u2019s easy to fix.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t use so much sweetener.\u00a0 If white sugar affected us all that way, we wouldn\u2019t be so troubled with weight!<\/p>\n

Should you use one of these stevia-based sweeteners?\u00a0 If it is more readily available than other substitutes and if you like the taste better, I couldn\u2019t find any overwhelming evidence that either are harmful.\u00a0 It would be wise, though, to pay close attention to what your body is telling you when you use these — or other — products.\u00a0 If you notice any difference in your health and well-being, you might want to experiment to see if you are having an adverse reaction.\u00a0 Lay off for a while, then try again. If you get the same symptoms each time, you probably are having a negative reaction and should choose another option.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think the closer to natural you can get — the better.\u00a0 Since I like regular stevia just fine, and since the jury is still out on Truvia and Pure Via, I will probably just stick with the plain \u2018ol variety.<\/p>\n

Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n

Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several of my blog followers have asked me, \u201cWhat about Truvia?\u201d Truvia started out as stevia.\u00a0 The owners of Truvia, Cargill\u00a0 Labs and Coca-Cola, extract the sweet part of the leaf, Rebiana A, and combine it with erythritol, a sugar alcohol.\u00a0 And \u201cnatural flavors.\u201d\u00a0 It has zero calories and no effect on blood sugar levels.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,9],"tags":[417,418,419,416,415],"class_list":["post-1426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clinical-studies","category-eating-plan","tag-alternative-sweetener","tag-coca-cola","tag-pepsico","tag-pure-via","tag-truvia"],"yoast_head":"\nTruvia - a True Solution? - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/04\/truvia-a-true-solution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truvia - a True Solution? 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