Natural Sweetener Follow-up

Stevia

This information about Stevia was reported in the Daily Green on April 30 Is Stevia Sweetener Really Natural?, further confirming my suspicions about processing. When clicking on the second link in the article you are directed to the Stevia Extract in the Raw site, which reports about its competitors the following:

Unlike some of our competitors, Stevia Extract In The Raw does not use additional sweeteners such as erythritol (Truvia™) and isomaltulose and erythritol (PureVia™) to mask the natural sweetness of Reb-A Stevia Extract. The high purity level of our product eliminates any of the licorice-like aftertaste associated with less pure Stevia products currently in the market.

 While these “additional sweeteners” may seem pretty harmless, all of them require processing. Finding a healthy sweetener is not hard: raw honey and maple syrup. Raw honey requires no heating and maple syrup requires some heating. You can do both at your home if you are geographically blessed. You can’t make powdered Stevia from home.

Evaporated Cane Juice

Maria’s comment on my Natural Sweeteners post made me rethink the supposed health benefits (vitamins and minerals) of evaporated cane juice (Rapadura). I came across this article, which is making me think further: Organica News -- Health: On the Sweet-Tooth of a Dilemma. With honey being a monosaccharide that does not feed the yeast that causes imbalances in the gut, which in turn leads to all sorts of illness, I am going to stick with honey as our sweetener of choice and occasionally use maple syrup.

By now my family’s gut health is pretty good, and since honey and other dietary changes have taken us to levels of health we could not imagine, there is no point in stopping a good thing!