Sweet, Popular and Size Zero
Her name is “Truvia” aka “PureVia”. Well that was before the transformation. Before that, she was just a green plant named “Stevia”. And popularity in the U.S. did not come easy. It took some major players with big bucks to bring her to the American food stage.
I was first introduced to Stevia in the 80’s in New York. Everything about Stevia was on the down low. I had to buy Stevia from a “friend” and it came in a little bottle labeled ‘Sun Care”. Not kidding. That’s because for nearly 20 years the FDA would not recognize Stevia as a food. In 1995 the FDA moved to permit Stevia to be used as a dietary/food supplement, but would not give its full stamp of approval on Stevia as a food additive. No one seems to know exactly why. Some guess it was to protect the companies manufacturing artifical sweeteners.
Stevia is an herb native to Paraguay, an annual that grows 1-2’ tall with pale 
green leaves. The leaves can be gathered and dried then ground to a fine powder or steeped in water to make a liquid. The “Sun Care” product I used in the 80’s was a reduced steep – slightly thick liquid. Stevia is really sweet; 300X sweeter than sugar meaning you only needs one teaspoon of Stevia to equal the sweetness in 1 cup of sugar. Stevia is also low in calories - 1/10 of a calorie per leaf – virtually zero.
Stevia has been popular in Japan since the 1970’s. The Japanese began to prohibit the use of artificial laboratory-made chemical sweeteners due to health concerns - duh. Convinced of the safety of Stevia and Stevioside (a crystallized extract of the Stevia leaf) Japan approved them as sweeteners and flavor enhancers for food use.
The plant was approved as a food additive in a dozen countries besides Japan including Brazil and China, but not in the United States. Until 2008 when Coca Cola and Cargill wanted to use an active ingredient from the plant, rebaudioside A , to create the no-calorie sweetener Truvia. So 18 years after the FDA deemed it unsafe, Stevia is granted GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status. Sweet. PureVia is PepsiCo’s brand name for stevia-based sweetener packs.
There are questions of course. Will the derivative of the plant work the same as the WHOLE plant? Are there any negative long-term affects? Will consumers go for the taste (a bitter aftertaste to some, tastes like saccharin to me)? And finally will the intense sweetness bring on a desire for carbohydrates as shown by other zero calorie sweeteners? Don’t know. Chime in. What color will the packet of Truvia at Starbucks be?
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Green.
Comment by Janine Prichard — August 6, 2009 @ 8:57 pm
I actually like the taste of PureVia. I drink coffee and kept struggling with adding sugar and Stevia because the Stevia was too sweet with a bitter aftertaste and the sugar was empty calories and dental cavities. So PureVia has been the answer to my “sweet” prayers! Let’s just hope the large food companies keep it clean!
Comment by Kate Taylor — August 7, 2009 @ 5:03 am
i vote green, too, on the packet, using some recycled-looking paper, probably.
i have a friend growing it in her garden and i wondered if the leaves chopped and put in tea would still have that little aftertaste?
btw, Cynthia, you were brilliant last night at improv!! we bow to your greatness!
Comment by Wendy — August 9, 2009 @ 12:17 pm
SweetLeaf’s stevia is the best (and yes, their packets are green!).
Right now they have a promotion going on (see their website sweetleaf.com) where people can try a free sample and get 25% off on their next order. Check it out!
Comment by Mariam — August 11, 2009 @ 3:33 pm