Stevia vs Splenda

Many people are choosing Splenda as their sweetener. Afterall like Stevia, it contains no calories right? It certainly is easy to find in the local grocery store, it’s less expensive and easier to purchase than Stevia.

But if you take a closer look at Stevia vs Splenda, there are some really big differences!

Stevia

Stevia is naturally grown so there are no harmful additives present. The Stevia plant is part of the sunflower family, native to subtropical and tropical regions from western North America to South America. The sweat leaf is widely used as a sweetener and sugar substitute in countries like Brazil, but it has only been used in the United States for a couple of years now. While it’s 300 times sweeter than sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste (at high concentrations) that many people find unappealing, Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose and may even enhance glucose tolerance.

Unlike all the other sugars available to us, Stevia is recognized by the body as a sweetener so it takes care of the sweet tooth but it does not cause the body to produce insullin to deal with “sugar”. It’s the perfect sweetener for diabetics for this very reason. You will reduce your propensity towards insulin resistance and thereby cut your diabetes risk, lower inflammation caused by insulin spiking in the blood, lower fat storage and even lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
Powdered or crystallized stevia can be purchased in natural foods stores.

Splenda

Splenda is registered as a trade mark by the British company Tate & Lyle and is the commercial name of a sucralose-based artificial sweetener derived from sugar. It has been used by millions of individuals since the day it was approved in 1998.
Like stevia, it contains no calories, but Splenda contains about 95% dextrose (D-glucose) and maltodextrin which the body readily metabolizes, combined with a small amount of mostly indigestible sucralose. Although it has long been used, certain controversies about the product have been raised lately due to its contents. Nonetheless, many individuals are still loyal to the product as the mentioned side effects of splenda have not been confirmed.

Because neither Splenda nor stevia contribute calories (though Splenda isn’t zero-calorie completely, because of the extra ingredients dextrose or maltodextrin, both of which contain calories), they can be beneficial for people trying to lose weight.

So on the one hand you have the 100% natural Stevia vs Splenda which is more ‘artificial’. Neither of the two sugar substitutes has proven to negatively affect human health through long term consumption but remember that using sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners in moderation is the only way to prevent yourself from experiencing the risks associated with using each of them.

So make sure you know exactly what it is you are using!