Saying that stevia is a "real plant" is a poor testimonial to its
safety. Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it is
inherently safe. Arsenic is natural and is lethal, whereas water is a
chemical and is essential for life.

I have no idea whether stevia (or Splenda for that matter) is safe or
not and I'm not saying to use or not use it. But I'm guessing that it
falls into the same category as many herbs and "natural" supplements
and is probably not regulated by the FDA. I'm willing to bet that
there has been far more research on the safety of Splenda than there is
on the safety of stevia. I keep reading on the net about the alleged
dangers of artificial sweeteners but nobody ever seems to have any
evidence to back up these claims.

As for the original question that started this thread, most likely none
of these products -- Splenda, stevia or sugar (if you are not diabetic)
is harmful when used in moderation. If you truly wish to avoid the
calories in sugar and not use artificial sweeteners or stevia, then the
only thing I can recommend is to try and get used to drinking
unsweetened tea. Tea that is prepared properly and not allowed to
stew (overbrew) really doesn't require any sweetening to taste good.


On Jan 25, 1:24 pm, Karl Sprenger > wrote:
> Read about it, look it up, stevia is a real plant, Splenda is a chemical.
>
> Don't take our word for it. Check it out.
>
>
>
> Fran wrote:
> > Why are you assuming that stevia is safe and that Splenda is unsafe?
> > On what basis did you reach these conclusions?
>
> > On Jan 25, 9:22 am, Ozzy <please.answer@NG> wrote:
> >> "taopants" > wrote in news:1169731913.366442.189610
> >> @m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com:
>
> >>> I just looked down and saw that karl rec'd stevia as well. So I
> >>> unintentionally repeat. avoid splenda-- To me it is just more of the
> >>> all too prevalent artifical evil. The Splenda compound is sugar
> >>> with a chlorine molecule attached to it. as told to me by a rep when I
> >>> was a waiter. Of course I could be wrong/heard it wrong. So research
> >>> it yourselvesYou're right. See <http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/>. Every artificial
> >> sweetner is medically worse than sugar, which has its problems too.
> >> Splenda is relatively new, and so is assummed to be safe until proven
> >> otherwise.
>
> >> Stevia does seem worth checking out.
>
> >> Ozzy- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -