Truvia has become one of the most popular sugar-alternatives on the market, ranked second only to Splenda. With some experts claiming Truvia is a good substitute to more harmful artificial sweeteners, is Truvia actually healthy for you?
Truvia is a sugar-alternative in a category similar to Splenda, Equal, or Sweet'n'Low, but its claim is that it is a natural sweetener, as opposed to an artificial one. According to the Truvia website, the sweetener is made from a blend of "erythritol, stevia leaf extract and natural flavors."
One of the key things to note about Truvia is that while it claims to be "natural," it has quite a few artificial ingredients. The stevia portion of the of Truvia is actually a chemical called rebaudioside A, and is the part of the stevia plant used for the sweetening portion. According to a New York Times article, "Every stevia plant carries a certain mix of metabolites, called steviol glycosides, that define its sweetness signature. The most abundant glycoside in wild stevia has an overly bitter taste that wouldn't fly in foods or beverages. Enzymes in the plant convert that glycoside into several dozen others, including rebaudioside-A - the substance that DuBois recommended as a natural sweetener. But for any given plant, it's hard to know how much of each you'll get." This chemical, more commonly known as Reb-A or rebiana, is the actually agent used in Truvia for the sweetening.
In addition to pulling a specific chemical from specially bred plants, the creator, Cargill, must "manufacture erythritol by processing corn into a food grade starch, which is then fermented with yeast to create a broth."
These in themselves might be harmful, but there are known side effects to using Truvia. Back, shoulder, and neck pain, loose stool/diarrhea, stomach pains and mouth sores are all possible symptoms. You can read a list of issues people have encountered here.
Do keep in mind thought, that while there are people who have problems with Truvia (as with any product), according to Authority Nutrition, "It contains almost no calories, does not affect blood sugar or insulin levels, and should have little to no side effects for most people." This site also claims that "Even though it isn't a natural sweetener and the marketing behind it is questionable, it seems to be healthier than many other sweeteners."
The final determination is up to the reader, but not all artificial products are necessarily bad for you, but it is good to know when something claiming to be natural is not. Some people (including myself) tend to have negative reactions to artificial sweeteners.
So what do you think about Truvia? Let us know in the comments section below!
