Stevia- Sinfully Sweet

A perennial shrub of the aster family, stevia contains natural compounds-specifically, stevioside and rebaudioside A-that are estimated to be 150 to 400 times sweeter than sugar. Advocates claim that the herb also offers a host of health benefits, and is even a tonic for the skin. But here's the clincher: Stevia sweetens without calories. While it tastes sweeter than honey, it's about as fattening as water."

To read more about stevia visit this link- http://www.stevia.net

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration since the mid-1980s has labeled stevia an "unsafe food additive" and gone to extensive lengths to keep it off the U.S. market -- including initiating a search-and-seizure campaign and full-fledged "import alert."

To judge from the extensive measures the FDA has employed to keep Americans in the dark about stevia, one might assume it was some type of dangerous narcotic. But, in fact, no ill effects have ever been attributed to it, although it has been used by millions of people around the world, in some locales for hundreds of years. So adamant has the FDA remained on the subject, that even though stevia can now be legally marketed as a dietary supplement under legislation enacted in 1994, any mention of its possible use as a sweetener or tea is still strictly prohibited.

Now that stevia has been designated as "unsafe" -- almost certainly to benefit the politically powerful sweetener industry -- the agency has insisted on stonewalling any and all evidence to the contrary. Once the FDA makes a decision, neither practical experience nor scientific research is likely to bring about a reversal of its position.

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