I rarely sweeten my tea but I know many people who do. From my previous blog we found out that milk counteracts against the antioxidants in tea, but how about sugar or a sugar substitute? I recently tried stevia and it’s amazing. I am not a stevia rep, I was just looking for a sugar alternative to help one of my friends live a healthier and longer life. She was a huge fan of Equal/Splenda and it always bothered me when she added it to her tea. I was determined to find a natural sweetener for her and came up with a few options; honey, agave, and stevia. Being a health nut and calorie counter, she liked stevia the best.

Stevia Leaf

My Mom and Grandma have been using stevia for years and love the natural sweetness. Stevia has been used by millions of users in modern countries such as Japan for thirty years, with no reported or known harmful effects on humans. It has practically zero calories and abundant vitamins (A,B,C) and minerals (iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, potassium).

Some studies have shown that stevia can help control hyperglycemia, improve glucose tolerance, decrease blood glucose levels, and reduce glucose production in the kidneys. And as far as safety is concerned, studies have shown that stevia is neither mutagenic or genotoxic; it is not an agent of genetic damage. Studies also show that stevia neither affected fertility, nor growth and reproduction in both male and female animals.

Sugar

On the other hand, what sugar does to you isn’t so sweet. Sugar contains nothing that can build the body at all - it can only be burned off or stored as fat. The evidence linking high sugar intake to diabetes is irrefutable. Sugar also has been linked with atherosclerosis, a condition long blamed on eggs and other high cholesterol foods. Researchers now suspect sugar and other highly refined foods in the Western diet as a leading cause of cancer.

What’s even worse - artificial sugars such as Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure) and Splenda. They are equally dangerous and detrimental to your health!

• Epilepsy/seizures
• Migraines and headaches
• Depression
• Brain tumors
• Autoimmune diseases

Research in animals has shown that consuming sucralose (Splenda) comes hand in hand with a plethora of health problems including:

• Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage)
• Enlarged liver and kidneys
• Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus
• Reduced growth rate
• Decreased red blood cell count
• Extension of the pregnancy period
• Aborted pregnancy
• Diarrhea

For these many, many reasons it is wise to avoid artificial sweeteners.