A Primal Primer: Stevia
After last week’s article many of you asked about a natural alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners: stevia. It is widely used in the low carb community to satisfy sugar cravings or simply add a touch of sweetness to a hot beverage or dessert, but should it be? What is stevia? Is it safe? What is its effect on insulin, if any, and does it have a place in a Primal Blueprint eating strategy? Let’s investigate.
Stevia is an herbaceous family of plants, 240 species strong, that grows in sub-tropical and tropical America (mostly South and Central, but some North). Stevia the sweetener refers to stevia rebaudiana, the plant and its leaves, which you can grow and use as or with tea (it was traditionally paired with yerba mate in South America) or, dried and powdered, as a sugar substitute that you sprinkle on. It’s apparently quite easy to grow (according to the stevia seller who tries to get me to buy a plant or two whenever I’m at the Santa Monica farmers’ market), and the raw leaf is very sweet.
Most stevia you’ll come across isn’t in its raw, unprocessed form, but in powdered or liquid extract form. The “sweet” lies in the steviol glycosides – stevioside and rebaudioside – which are isolated in these extracts. Some products use just one, while others use both stevioside and rebaudioside. Stevioside is the most prevalent glycoside in stevia, and some say it provides the bitter aftertaste that people sometimes complain about; rebaudioside is said to be the better tasting steviol glycoside, with far less bitterness. Most of the “raw or natural” stevia products use the full range of glycosides, but the more processed brands will most likely isolate one or more of the steviol glycosides. The popular Truvia brand of stevia products uses only rebaudioside, as do both PureVia and Enliten. Different brands provide different conversion rates, but compared to sucrose, stevioside is generally about 250-300 times as sweet and rebaudioside is about 350-450 times as sweet.
Does Stevia Affect Insulin?
There is one in vitro study that showed stevioside acts directly on pancreatic beta cells to stimulate insulin secretion and another which shows similarly insulinotropic effects of rebaudioside, which may give you pause. Insulin secretion sounds like an insulin spike, no? And since we tend to be wary of unneeded insulin spikes, maybe we should avoid stevia. It’s not so simple, of course. For one, this was an in vitro study, performed in a super-controlled laboratory petri dish type setting; this was not an in vivo study of animals or people eating stevia in a natural, organic way. The results of in vitro studies are notorious for not panning out when you try to replicate them in vivo. Secondly, insulin secretion isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, we need it to shuttle nutrients into cells, and we’d die without it. As I mentioned in the dairy post a few weeks back, insulin is millions upon millions of years old. It’s been preserved throughout history because it’s an essential hormone. It’s not always the bad guy, especially if you’re insulin sensitive.
In fact, the evidence is mounting that stevia actually is an insulin sensitizer that can aid in glucose tolerance and clearance after a meal. The Japanese have been using stevia for decades in the treatment of type 2 diabetics. Let’s look at a few recent studies. In fructose-fed rats, a single instance of oral stevioside increased insulin sensitivity and reduced postprandial blood glucose in a dose-dependent manner. The same study also found that diabetic rats given stevioside required less exogenous insulin for the same effect. Taken together, these results suggest that stevia may not just be a good sugar substitute for diabetics, but an effective supplement for treatment of their insulin resistance.
Another study looked at the postprandial effects of stevia, sucrose, and aspartame in human subjects. Compared to sucrose eaters, stevia eaters showed lower postprandial blood sugar levels. Compared to both sucrose and aspartame eaters, stevia eaters had far lower postprandial insulin levels. Furthermore, eating stevia did not induce increased appetite throughout the day, indicating stable blood sugar and satiety levels. Another strike in stevia’s favor.
Any Other Effects?
There are other potential benefits to using stevia unrelated to its apparent benefits on glycemic control. Here are a few studies I was able to dig up:
- When combined with inulin, a soluble prebiotic fiber, low-dose stevia increased HDL while lowering overall lipids in male rats. Alone, low-dose stevia lowered cholesterol without the potentially beneficial effect on HDL. It’s also useful to note that high-dose stevia negatively affected some toxic parameters – so don’t eat spoonfuls of stevia (not that you would) – but long term low-dose stevia was deemed safe.
- Lipid numbers are fun and all, but we’re really interested in avoiding atherosclerotic plaque buildup. In mice treated with stevioside, oxidized LDL was reduced, overall plaque volume was reduced, and insulin sensitivity increased. Overall, atherosclerosis was reduced in the stevioside-treated mice. I couldn’t dig up exactly how they were “treated,” however, but they were given doses of 10 mg/kg.
- In another study, mice memory was impaired by administration of scopolamine, an anticholigernic found in the intensely hallucinogenic jimson weed (or devil’s weed) and datura. Impaired mice were given oral stevioside (250 mg/kg) and tested for memory retention. Memory deficit was largely reversed with administration of stevioside, which also reduced the brain oxidative damage caused by scopolamine. Clinically relevant? Perhaps not, but it’s interesting.
- A two-year randomized, placebo-controlled study of Chinese patients with mild hypertension (which a rather large swath of society probably suffers from) found that oral stevioside intake significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Patients either took a 500 mg capsule of stevioside or a placebo three times a day for two years. The hypertension situation improved across the board and no downsides were reported or detected. Also of note is the fact that slightly more patients in the placebo group developed left ventricular hypertrophy, a pathological thickening of the heart muscle. Of course, another study using far lower doses (up to 15 mg/kg/day) found no anti-hypertensive effects, so it appears that the dose is key. Maybe somewhere in the middle works well, as one study in hypertensive dogs showed: they used 200 mg/kg to normalize blood pressure in the canine subjects.
We can think about stevia as a Primal sugar alternative with some potentially therapeutic effects. Kind of like cinnamon or turmeric, we don’t consume it for the calories or as literal fuel for our bodies, but for flavor, variety, and, possibly, the health benefits. It may induce insulin secretion, but it increases insulin sensitivity, reduces blood glucose (i.e., the insulin is doing its job), and does not increase appetite. It’s been used by humans for hundreds of years and by diabetic patients in Asia for decades. The goofy health food store dude who claims aspartame was created by Donald Rumsfeld to give us cancer may be a vociferous supporter of it, but don’t hold that against stevia. I’m a fan of the stuff and recommend it as a Primal way to satisfy a sweet tooth.
What do you guys think of stevia? Love it? Hate it? Have you ever used its potential therapeutic effects? Let me know in the comment section!
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
YES! Been using it for years. Props! Its no good on its own – add it to fruit based things and you have a sensation on your hands.
Stevia is amazing–the liquid form anyways–and I use it in drinks all the time. Sweetleaf makes a really good one, and so does…Nature Pharmaceuticals, I believe it’s called? Either way, it’s like coconut oil, a total staple in my house.
Some of the sweetleaf liquid stevia extracts contain Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) and that shit is horrible and should never be ingested. Check ingredients before using! (Yes, I know this is an old comment, but in case someone stumbles across this now, I wanted to make sure they were aware of the ingredients of these products.)
Agreed, so many stevia products contain so many additives all, at the end of the day, to dress themselves up to impersonate sugar. Some are a million miles away, others get pretty close to having the same properties, taste and health implications.
I’ve been using Stevita brand. I bought the pure stevia powder (minimum 95% stevia crystals) and the spoonable version that has Erythritol as a bulking agent to mimic a sugar substitute more closely. After using both for several months now, I prefer the pure powder for all applications.
I am not finding that the spoonable stevita is close enough to a sugar substitute to warrant its use. I do use it for coffee still, but when my packets run out, I will switch it.
The pure powder is extremely sweet, and I don’t mind the slight aftertaste. I put it in drinks and add some sweetness to certain recipes.
By the way, the stuff lasts FOREVER! I bought a little $5 one ounce container and its listed for 200 uses. (1/32 of a teaspoon). It’s not even half gone yet after several months of regular use.
My conclusion: I love it. It works. It’s inexpensive, and it’s a great natural sweetener option.
I tend to use Steviva brand (20% off all products this month – sorry couldn’t avoid the plug)- as well as the pure powder they also have a product with Erythritol as a bulking, and sweetening agent. Unlike the pure powder it doesn’t have any adverse taste. We (I say we as I’m not a cook) use it just as we would sugar, in drinks and baking – my wife makes some mean brownies with it. If you use the powder then I guess you’ll need to adjust the amount of other ingredients to make up for the lack of volume.
Well, I am a pre-diabetic and consuming some Stevia based products for 10 months and the truth is that I’m doing well, I’ve lost weight and most importantly I can eat sweet food safely. Recommend this page where I’m buying my Stevia for 6 months and have several forms: liquid, powder, filter bags and leaves.
http://nutrastevia.com/en/store
Regards
eeeewww, sorry – sounds so good and all – but after numerous trials with different kinds of stevia products – just can’t gag it down on anything – funny initial and aftertaste – i wish i could find out more about the insulin-driving effects of sugar alcohols like xylitol – they are quite palatable and with xylitol – the GI is about 7 vs 100 for normal table sugar – still something but i have notices quite clearly that 2 or 3 xylitol muffins (coconut flour) slathered with better don’t give me anything like the rush that just a few pieces of lower-content cacao chocolate does (with sugar) –
does anyone have links to good insulin studies with sugar alcohols??
thankr!
Ravi
jeeeze – sorry for all dem typo’s..
I would like to know this too. I love using xylitol.
Think paleonu(.com) covered xylitol in brief when talking about FODMAPs.
“They do get fermented in the colon, though, and it is possible to exacerbate irritable bowel syndrome or get osmotic diarrhea from, say, compulsively chewing sugarless gum or eating “diabetic” chocolates. ”
Didnt really read it in depth, as I personally don’t use too much artificial sweeteners.
checked out his comments on xylitol – not much but a good quick explain why xylitol is not as bad for teeth and GI – doesn’t get processed till much if at all till the large colon where it is fermented and there can cause some diarrhea – but anecdotal (ours too) is that any bowel discomfort passes with a few days of consumption – don’t have any further problem with it now – Polyols (what xylitol is) do occur naturally in fruits says Kurt-
personally – i think this is a very palatable and only marginally-not-paleo substitute–
Xylitol is very poisonous to dogs (or so I have read). So if you have a dog be careful about storing xylitol products out of their reach and not sharing treats with them. My dog has a serious sweet tooth, so I am glad to see that stevia appears to be safe for him. I usually give him a dash of regular table sugar on his oatmeal, but if he gets some stevia sweetened leftovers it’s good to know they won’t hurt him.
Michelle, your dog should be eating meat. Raw meat. Not oatmeal with sugar. Here’s an interesting website I once came across: http://rawfed.com/
Not a fan of it in a lot of things but I do use a few drops in my Yogurt (FAGE total) to take the sour edge off. For some reason it works really weel for me that way.
Read up on FODMAPS and potential issues with xylitol here: http://goo.gl/5QGFp
Just found a little information about sugar alcohols and posted a thread in the Odds and Ends Area. Covers some interesting stuff about the inequality of carbs! Fructose in particular.
I use the stevia powder from Trader Joe’s (“Trader Darwin”) and it has no funny initial or aftertaste…might wanna check it out! It’s a powder rather than crystal so that might have something to do with it.
Have you tried Now Foods Stevia Glycerite? I find it quite good if you don’t overdo it. You just have to find the right amount for your taste. Amazon and iherb.com sell the Now Foods Stevia Glycerite for about $15 or $20 an 8oz bottle, but it lasts for many months.
Hi Ravi and Gena, xylotol and sugar alcohols (its the ol at the end of the sugar name that indicates it is an alcohol) should be avoided as they are likely to aggrevate the liver and give an insulin spike-like normal drinking alcohol. So just use the STEVIA Extract powder only.
Glad to hear it, since I have been making chocolate mousse with this (and dark unsweetened chocolate and fresh eggs, naturally) and it is delicious.
Ooh, recipe please
As with any phytochemical, the dose-response function is important to keep in mind. Nice post!
It’s ok for sweetening beverages or plain yogurt and things of that nature, but it’s horrifyingly bad, bad, bad if you’re trying to use it for baking.
Yes I like xylitol and it tastes and measures like sugar. It is made from birch trees. Also it maintains its flavor when heat is used.
I use it moderately and I have no gastro effects from it either.
Had to add my 2c about Xylitol – although the marketing likes to say its made from birch (which is can be), its more commonly made from corn as a cheaper source. So check your product if you want to remain grain free!
I read my package and yes the brand I use is made from birch trees. I have seen another brand made from corn
i would not use stevia since it makes u get used to sweet more. getting used to not using sweet as much is better. you get so used to it that even carrot tastes like sweet
I tried it and tried to like it but, yuck!!!! I would rather do without. I have noticed that as time goes on I look for sweet stuff less and less often. Which thrills me.
But, I am a primal newbie who is on a weight loss quest. Fun read and if, I ever change my mind I know it will be in the archives.
Have a good day my fellow Grokers I’m off to do some reading and walking in the California sun.
Peace,
And eggs and bacon to all
I agree, yuck. Have tried it several times over the years and just can’t like it. I mostly drink coffee and tea unsweetened anyway and when I want something sweetened I use sucanat, agave, or raw honey.
Do you realise how much fructose is in argave syrup?! You’re better off putting sugar in your tea.
Same here and it gets me thinking about all things sweet. Best to go cold turkey for me.
aw, thanks for the thoughtful & insiteful post! I have just been trying stevia in the past few months to help with my sweet cravings. Just 2-4 drops in a (lg) coffee or hot tea. I like it best in tea but I’m getting used to it in my coffee. When you’re trying to cut back, even cutting the 4gms of carbs in a spoon of sucanat helps.
Why doesn’t Starbuck’s offer Stevia sweetened drinks!?!
The Skinny Vanilla Latte would ROCK with almond milk and stevia!
Ok never mind.
Or drinks made with Almond and Coconut milk….. mmmmmmmmmm.
i make chocolate drinks with almond and coconut milk. still trying to figure out how to get a good sweetness and flavor. stevia doesnt quite do it, but maybe im adding too little (or too much?)
Or hazelnut milk – that stuff is the bidness (but somewhat expensive – $7 a litre – unless you make it yourself, which I don’t).
A vanilla-hazelnut latté? Sign me up to that.
Yes!!!! If Starbucks would offer Coconut milk and Almond Milk and Stevia, I would definitely go there more often.
When I discovered that most coconut milk and almond milk contain carrageenan (can exacerbate gut inflammation), and contain high carb levels I gave up on them. I have found the Trader Joe’s canned light coconut milk does not have carrageenan listed. I read a comment stating that carrageenan is to red seaweed, as HFC syrup is to corn. I avoid it these days.
http://greenfertility.blogspot.com/2013/03/is-carrageenan-bad-for-you.html … http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181/Is-Carrageenan-Safe.html
Hmm. Seems that most of the studies were with either both extracts or just stevioside. So I guess Truvia is not proven to have these beneficial effects, right?
Thanks for the timely post. Sometimes, I like my coffee sweetened, and I just switched sweeteners for my coffee to Stevia In The Raw. I’ve been reading what I could find about it and it looked safe enough to try.
Again, Thanks for the post.
I recently bought liquid stevia to add to recipes that call for it. BUT….is there a ratio that I could use to possibly convert the liquid to more of a sugar measurement? For instance, a tsp of sugar = X drops of stevia. If anyone has any insight into this question I would be in your debt. I have a few recipes that call for sweeteners like honey or maple syrup and I was thinking about subbing in the stevia.
Or a quick Google search just answered my own question. I am kind of embarrassed.
http://www.stevia.net/conversion.html
no need to be embarrassed. It happens to all of us
Dan Quinn is one of the leading advocates of stevia and has been preaching its many virtues for years. You can look him up in Google to see his work.
Stevia is great.
I grow it in my garden and also have a bottle of the liquid in my pantry. I’ve found it useful for cutting down on sugar – for example, I’ll put 1/4 tsp sugar and 1 or 2 drops of stevia in a cup of coffee. I can’t take it on its own as a sweetener though; I find it to be even worse tasting than artificial sweeteners (which I think are disgusting). I’ve also noticed that commercial products sweetened with stevia seem to taste REALLY sweet. I don’t know if these things are just sweetened too much for my taste, or if I’m overly sensitive to the stevia.
How about a post on Xylitol?
Mark, if you do a post on xylitol, would you include the other sugar alcohols, please? i prefer erythritol and maltitol, myself….
I just don’t get sweet cravings since I went primal. I have some birch sugar and agave nector, and I never use either.
I use stevia all the time. I mostly use it for cooking. When you have kids, it’s nice to be able to bake cookies/cakes for the kids so that they don’t feel so ‘differnt’ from the rest of the kids who are eating a SAD. I use almond flour, coconut flour and coconut oil in all my cooking so everything is very low glycemic.
So what’s the difference between Truvia and Stevia?
Truvia is processed stevia (rebaudioside only, none of the bitter stevioside), + erythritol. The stevia makes the erythritol much, much sweeter than erythritol otherwise would be, so you don’t need to use as much, but like erythritol, it’s still good for baking. I’ve found it’s particularly good for chocolate desserts, and for egg-based desserts. I don’t sweeten coffee or tea but I’ve had guests use it in hot drinks in preference to sugar or other sugar substitutes. Combined with seltzer it’s good for home-made soda type drinks and I’d imagine it’d work for cocktails (I can’t remember if the latter are an acceptable primal cheat!). It’s spendy compared to stevia, since the conversion ratio to sugar is closer to 1:1.
Thank you for this post- I was just researching the subject of sugar yesterday. Any suggestions on brands of stevia? I’d like to think that if I’m going to use it that it should still come from as natural source as possible. I’m also wondering about sugar beets. Maybe I’ve missed it (only been around the site for 8-10 mo. or so) but what is everyone’s take on simply growing beets (organically, in my own garden) and making my own sugar? Sure, I’ll still get that insulin spike, but used sparingly, wouldn’t sugar from my vegetable garden still be more Primal? I guess it depends on where Grok was living as to where the sugar he used came from, don’t you think? As a very white Polish girl, I imagine I’d do a little better by rummaging around in the dirt rather than looking for sweet leaves in the jungle!
i’ve been trying various types of stevia, and i notice a GREAT deal of difference in flavor. the more unrefined the source (including a plant which thrived in my garden last year, and OnlySweet), the better it tasted in tea and the worse in coffee! i’m most partial to Now’s liquid, and SweetLeaf powder in packets for general use. i think you need to try various forms/brands to see what suits YOU best.
My guess now that is Truvia is the brand name and that it is also Stevia??
Put it like this, homeboy. Dan Quinn has touted stevia’s success and if you want more hits to your website you need to interview him, Ted Koppel. Oh, yeah!
Mark,
The health affects are worth mentioning…but in my opinion unless the stevia is organically grown/fair labor practices it may be having some poor effects on the Chinese folks around where it is conventionally grown on a pretty large scale–erosion, pestcides, etc all unregulated by our government so how are we to know that these folks are safe?
It’s great to find alternatives but if they negatively impact others and come from across the world, perhaps it’s just better to do without or sprinkle in some local honey if you must–won’t kill you and it’s more real than other artificial sweeteners recently discussed sometimes on this blog.
Love your blog, thanks for all the good work.
Stevia is naturally pesticide resistant due to it’s intense sweetness.. pretty sweet eh?
Do you really want to consume something that even the bugs won’t eat?
I don’t understand this preoccupation with sugar substitutes. Just eliminate the sweets from your diet already. Stick with whole fresh fruit instead. Your body will thank you for your intelligence.
In the right amounts, it certainly adds a bit of extra sweetness that can scratch an itch. I think it’s safe to use in moderate amounts, but overuse can bring sugar cravings back.
I have had 3 packets of stevia a day for the last 10 years (1 in each cup of coffee) with no bad effects. I’m usually not hungry for at least 5 hours after, so I’d have to say if anything it’s having a positive effect on my blood sugar/insulin levels.
Thanks so much for this article!! I’ve been wondering about the wisdom of including Stevia in my primal diet.
I buy the pure organic Stevia extract from Trader Joe’s (they also offer a powdered version that has milk product added which I do not recommend).
It didn’t take me long to get used to the taste, and I now I prefer it to sugar or Splenda-type sweeteners.
I only use it to sweeten my coffee (I bring it with me to Starbucks. They stare at me…I don’t really care).
I do have a caveat: I’ve noticed that my dosage tends to gradually increase which makes me think I develop a taste for sweeter and sweeter coffee. When I recognize this pattern, I scale way back and start over.
Happened to me too.. but you just have to take a few more sips, and you’ll notice it is sweet enough.
I have been using it for years and love how it replaces sugar. Power Aid Zero uses it also.
I used to despise stevia but it’s definitely improved, taste-wise, these last few years. My favorite, with the least amount of aftertaste that I’ve found, is Nu Naturals No Carbs Blend stevia, which is blended with erythritol, a natural sugar alcohol. I use such a tiny bit that the bottle lasts a long time.
Erin, I tried the same brand and it’s great. I can’t tell the difference between their Stevia and real sugar. Most brands have an aftertaste. Unfortunately my local Whole Foods stopped selling it:(
Are you talking about the powdered stuff? Because NuNaturals liquid is RANK! It’s about 30% ABV and tastes and smells chemically…
No, it’s a granular powder, not the liquid. I’m not a fan of liquid stevia at all!
I’m pretty sensitive to the aftertaste of stevia (and artificial sweeteners, for that matter. I wasn’t allowed to eat them growing up, so my tastebuds never acclimated;)
I agree!!! Nu Naturals is by far the best tasting stevia out there!!!!!
!!DAN QUINN!! DISCOVERED STEVIAS TRUE POWER AND OWNS ALL RIGHTS TO THE PLANT. DAN QUinn.
DANQUINN…DANQUINNDANQUINNDANQUINNDANQUINNDANQUINN
DAN QUINN