Stevia Safety?

[Guest guest]

>>> FWIW, this appears to be one report that helps to explain why Stevia was

not approved as a food

product...http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/out34_en.pdf

There are quite a few. Personally, I dont understand the use of Stevia as 1)

there are some legitimate safety concerns 2) it is sold as a supplement with no

guaranteed purity, 3) safe alternatives like sucralose exist and are

inexpensive and readily available

Here is some more (from CSPI)

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Three petitions seeking approval of stevia or stevioside as a food additive

have been submitted to FDA since 1989 from (1) a stevia importer in Texas; (2)

the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), a trade association; and (3)

the J. Lipton Company. All three petitions were, in effect, rejected

because of inadequate data on the safety of stevia and stevioside.

The FDA has not posted on their Web site any of the documentation from

these three petitions. However, the full text of the petition by the AHPA,

dated October 21, 1991, is available at an alternative medicine website.

http://www.holisticmed.com/sweet/stv-petition.txt

Also available is a document submitted to FDA by the Herb Research

Foundation on behalf of the AHPA. http://www.holisticmed.com/sweet/stv-supp.txt

European Community

The Scientific Committee on Food for the European Commission concluded that

“there are no satisfactory data to support the safe use of these products

[stevia plants and leaves],†in a five-page opinion dated June 17, 1999.

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/out36_en.pdf (requires Adobe

Reader plug-in <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html> )

The Committee also reiterated “its earlier opinion that the substance

[stevioside] is not acceptable as a sweetener on the presently available

data,†in a seven-page opinion dated June 17, 1999.

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/health/sc/scf/out34_en.pdf (requires Adobe

Reader plug-in <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html> )

United Kingdom

The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes for the Ministry of

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food rejected an application for use of stevia as a

sweetener in herbal teas because “the applicant had not provided all of the

information necessary to enable an assessment to be made,†in a

three-paragraph statement dated September 24, 1998. The Committee also agreed

with concerns raised about the inadequacy of the data on the safety of stevia.

http://www.maff.gov.uk/food/novel/980924.htm

World Health Organization

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) reviewed

stevioside in 1998, but could not quantify an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI)

because of inadequate data on the composition and safety of stevioside. The

Committee recommended that further studies be done on the metabolism of

stevioside in humans and on the potential genetic effects of steviol (a

metabolite of stevioside).

The text of their review, published in JECFA Monograph Series 42, is not

available on the Internet. A summary table showing no ADI allocated for

stevioside is dated June 1998.

http://www.who.int/pcs/jecfa/summary_51.htm

Scientific research on stevia and stevioside

The two studies referenced in the article Stevia: A Bittersweet Tale are:

A. Yamada et al.: Chronic toxicity study of dietary stevia extracts in F344

rats. J. Food Hyg Soc Japan 26:169-183, 1985. (Not indexed in Medline and not

available on the Internet)

C. Wasuntarawat et al.: Developmental toxicity of steviol, a metabolite of

stevioside, in the hamster. Drug Chem Toxicol 1998 May; 21(2):207-22. (Abstract

available in Medline) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/

query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=9598301 &

dopt=Abstract

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=\

9598301 & dopt=Abstract>