Is Stevia Really Healthy?

I don't take people's word for it. I search medical and health websites, consulting both medical and the naturopathic. Like stevia. People say it's safe for folks wary about blood sugar spikes. Is it? These are what I found out from sites like Medical News Today, News-Medical and Pubmed.Ncbi.

Photo by Radek Grzybowski on Unsplash.

Stevia is good in small amounts, like a teaspoon a day in your coffee, and no more. Pubmed says it's definitely anti-inflammatory:

Stevioside, a natural noncaloric sweetener isolated from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, possesses anti-inflammatory and antitumor promoting properties; however, no information is available to explain its activity (it's observable but not yet studied in depth)...This study suggested that stevioside attenuates (reduces) synthesis of inflammatory mediators in LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells by interfering with the IKKbeta and NF-kappaB signaling pathway, and stevioside-induced TNF-alpha secretion is partially mediated through TLR4.

Never mind the lab jargon. In short, it's safe as far as inflammation is concerned, and in moderate amounts. Of course, abuse of anything is bad for the health. Now, how about in spiking blood-sugar?

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The site News-Medical.Net explains stevia's effect this way. First it states it's general safeness.

Stevia is considered to be safe and harmless compared to artificial sweeteners. Experimental studies have been carried out for a long time to investigate its health outcomes on humans.

Second, it has this to say about blood-sugars: 

Anti-hyperglycemic—it has the ability to increase the activity of pancreatic cells, insulin sensitivity, and promote insulin production and utilization. It is helpful in the treatment of Type-2 diabetics.

Also, because it's not really sugar in any way, no wonder it doesn't affect blood-sugar spikes. But it has side effects, according to the same site.

Stevia has an adverse effect on the blood flow, renal activity, flow of urine, and excretion of sodium in patients with renal disease. It is not recommended for women during pregnancy and lactation...it may also interact with drugs used for cancer, microbial infections, calcium channel blockers, and lowering cholesterol levels, and lead to other side effects.

In short, too much consumption is bad. Medical News Today puts it this way:

According to the FDA, the acceptable daily intake for steviol equivalents is 4 milligrams (mg) per kilogram of body weight (Trusted Source). That equates to about 12 mg of high-purity stevia extracts per kilogram of body weight per day.

When used as a sweetener or to flavor foods, experts do not consider highly purified stevia to cause adverse side effects.

Belly Fat?

Does stevia cause belly fat? Nope. But here's the thing. If you're not careful and smart with stevia (consuming way beyond the recommended minimal) it may trigger again your sweet tooth and cravings and lure you to try a little more of sweets. It can stimulate your appetite for sugar and make you crave for carby food again without realizing it. And that will cause belly fat.

If I were you, I'd use Stevia or any other sweetener replacement less frequent. Less sweets, less health problems. But nothing bad with a little bit of sweetness in your coffee now and then. 😆

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