Is Stevia safe to use as a sugar substitute?
Stevia, derived from a South American shrub, is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar but provide no calories. It does not have FDA clearance for sale as a sugar substitute, but the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act permits its sale as a "dietary supplement." Although no harm to humans has been documented, laboratory studies have raised questions about its safety [1]. Since 1989, the FDA has rejected petitions seeking approval as a food additive for this reason. In 1999, the European Commission Scientific Committee on Food concluded:
The information submitted on the plant products was insufficient with regard to specification and standardisation of the commercial product and contains no safety studies. There are no satisfactory data to support the safe use of these products as ingredients of food or as sucrose substitute for diabetics and obese individuals. The only toxicological data submitted are essentially concerned with the stevioside component of the plant product. No appropriate data were presented to enable the safety of the commercial plant product to be evaluated [2].