My friend cannot use anything like Equal or Sweet n Low, but has recently found a sweetner called Stevia. She says it can be purchased in health food stores and larger supermarkets. She buys it in Vanilla Flavor, Lemon, and Plain. Says other flavors also are available. Has anyone here heard of it. Is the plain actually tasteless??? I don't like the taste of saccarine at all.
My dw only uses stevia as a sweetner....I found some at health food stores, but also at Publix supermarkets. It does not seem to have an aftertaste like the other artificial sweetners. Look for a forest green box, and they also have it as raw stevia....I can send you some if you cannot find it...
Costco and probably Sam's Club also sells it. It is suppose to be better for you since it is natural - made from leaves of the Stevia plant. do a google search and you will find some interesting info.
We use Stevia and get it at the grocery store. I think it's much better than the other artificial sweetners and apparently it really is better for you.
I looked into Stevia when I was first diagnosed with diabetes and decided not to use it. There is a discussion of the arguments against at: http://www.communati.com/node/2621 It has been used for many years in Japan so if there are risks they are small and probably not relevant to our LOs.
I believe that Coke will soon be using it as a sweetner in their soft drinks.
From Wall Street Journal:
"Drink up. The FDA just gave the nod to a natural, zero-calorie sweetener for soft drinks that’s derived from an herb called stevia.
Soft drink companies are stoked for stevia. As the editor of Beverage Digest recently told the Chicago Tribune, a diet sweetener that’s not artificial and tastes great is a “holy grail” for beverage companies.
The sugar substitute goes by the brand-name Truvia for Coke and PureVia for Pepsi. According to a site from Coca-Cola and food-processor Cargill, the sweet ingredient that comes from the leaves of the stevia plant is called rebiana. (The formal name for the geeks out there is rebaudioside A.) "
i have been told stevia has a bitter aftertaste like the saccarin did but it is a better choice than other sweeteners out there that are chemical based. it will be better for the soft drinks to use instead of saccarin thats for sure.i use somersweet from suzannesomers website. its great and tastes and bakes well. i use her low cal brownie mixes and stuff she sells when i diet, it tastes super- divvi