Stevia has several health benefits. The most obvious is the fact that it does an excellent job of sweetening foods and beverages without any calories. This particular benefit makes it an excellent choice for dieters and diabetics.
But, there are a lot of other benefits to using stevia; depending on the form it is in.
If you remember from the last post, stevia can be found as a green powder, a liquid, or a white powder.
The concentrated white powder loses a LOT of the natural benefits from the stevia plant. It still retains a small protion of them because the white powder is normally between 70% - 95% pure steviacide. This only leaves 5% - 30% of the rest of the natural chemicals from the stevia plant in the white powdered form.
The liquid form is produced either through a “water based” or an “alcohol based” process; the alcohol destroys almost all of the beneficial traits from the stevia. If you are using liquid stevia; try to get the water bassed, it is much healthier for you.
The “green leaf stevia” is made from cut green stevia leaves and while it is not as sweet as the concentrates; it retains all of the stevia plants natural chemicals and benefits.
The benefits listed below ONLY belong to the green leaf stevia and liquid water based stevia, unless noted differently:
1) lowers blood pressure (all forms)
2) improves digestion, reducing gas and stomach acidity (all forms)
3) softens and tightens the skin, smoothing out wrinkles
4) eliminates dandruff and scalp problems
5) helps heal and treat: blemishes, acne outbreaks, lip and mouth sores, seborrhea, dermatitis, eczema
6)inhibits the growth and reproduction of bacteria found to cause gum disease and tooth decay
7) strengthens the immune system and speeds recovery from minor illnesses
decrease in desire for sweets and fatty foods (all forms)
9) weight loss (all forms - due to fewer calories)
10) regulating effect on the pancreas (all forms)
11) helps stabilize blood sugar (all forms)
12) increases energy levels
13) increases mental acuity
14) rapid healing without scarring
Those are a lot of benefits and this does make stevia attractive to a lot of people and companies. Both individuals and manufacturers have been working to get stevia approved for all types of uses in foods, beverages, toiletries (toothpaste and mouthwash), and OTC products (cold sores,antibiotics, etc). Stevia has been used uninterrupted for 30 years in Japan. But, currently it can only be sold as a “supplement” in the US and SEVERAL other countries.
People who want unregulated stevia use claim this is due to “politics” and “economics”. But, the truth is a little different. Stevia does have 2 definate side effects and 1 possible side effect and I will discuss those in my next post on the DANGERS of stevia.