Stevia extract replacement for sugar sweetener

Hey guys i was on iherb.com and came across this substitution for sugar. Caustic what is your take on this. Do you think its beneficial, here is the link

http://www.iherb.com/ProductsList.aspx?cid=1598

the wife and I have been using stevia for quite some time, good stuff

came across this on another forum

http://safety.lovetoknow.com/Dangers_of_Stevia

http://safety.lovetoknow.com/Dangers_of_Stevia

They say in high doses it causes bad sides in mice after 22months, but wouldn't suger at the same high dose cause worse sides? Nearly anything in mega doses is bad for you. And because the japs have been using it for 30 plus years with no problems it looks like a fairly safe thing to me. Then again I could be wrong, we'll just have to see what immortal has to say about it.

I almost never drink soda or have hardly anything else with sugar, but my weakness is milk chocolate every now and again, but this product below or even just mixing cocoa with stevia could fix that! Anyway stevia seems pretty awsome!
http://www.emperorsherbologist.com/chocodant.php

Wow guys thanks for the input, espcially that sugarfree chocolate mix. Im sucker for hot chocolate so this might a good substitution.

Young, you know what's better than hot chocolate? Hot Mulled Beer. Pretty good for you too. Go Google "how to make hot mulled beer".

I tried stevia once and it had a weird aftertaste that I never quite got used to. It was fine with any cold foods but as soon as I would add it to hot food/beverages it would taste funny. Actually on adding it to a hot beverage, it would be tasteless until I add a few more teaspoons but doing so also increased the bitter taste.

If there was a stevia product that I could use on any food that didnt taste so bitter I would be sold!

Silverlin - Awesome find here with Chocodant, I'm going to order some!

I've tried a lot of sweeteners over the years, so here is a quick review:

Stevia has many tastes depending on brand, some are bitter, others are close to perfect. This requires individual trial and error. Consuming this all the time will decrease insulin sensitivity, so that is the only downside.

Lo-han fruit, I've only tried it once, but heard some good stuff. I'll have to check it out again. Maybe someone here has tried it.

Xylitol - Looks like sugar, tastes like sugar, but has 40% less calories and has a virtual zero impact on glucose and insulin levels. It takes about 2-weeks maybe longer to get your body acclimated to digesting it, so until that time, prepare for multiple trips to the bathroom if you use a lot of it--which is a guarantee. It has a cool taste to the tongue, but other than that is just like sugar. It kills bacteria in your teeth, so it's a nice bonus.

Erythritol - It also kills bacteria around the teeth, and has a virtual zero caloric value. It's about 70% as sweet as sugar, so often, adding a little something else like stevia can sweeten it up to the right level. It doesn't have the gastrointestinal upset to the degree that Xylitol does, but it can be there if enough is consumed. Of course, no negative impact on glucose or insulin levels.

Whey Low - This is probably the very best sugar substitute. I've tried it and it's fantastic. Here's the website: http://www.wheylow.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y

IH,

I personally do not think xylitol tastes anything like sugar. I know it is a matter of personal taste...but after using NOW stevia glycerite for over a year and then trying xylitol again...I couldn't even tolerate the stuff. I have heard other people comment that they like it though, and say that it tastes like sugar. Maybe I have tried bad brands but I think it's just personal taste.

JHarsh80 - How do you rate NOW stevia glycerite?

This product has some pretty stellar reviews:

http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=861&at=1

IH,

It is actually the only stevia I have ever tried so I have nothing to compare it to besides xylitol... but I like it. I even have my mom using it in her coffee. I use it in oatmeal mostly with sea salt and coconut oil or butter and it's pretty good. I've used it in coffee too with good results. Never in anything cold though. I would recommend it.

I just wanted to add that I have never been let down by a NOW product. The first NOW product that I tried was their whey protein isolate (with stevia) because I was looking for a low card whey. I ordered the vanilla for years and then recently switched to the chocolate which I like better. It is ridiculously expensive on iherb, but bulknutition.com has the best deal for the 5lb container- $49 I think. Then when I started buying vitamins and other supplements I have purchased NOW and accumulated a lot of their stuff.

IH- I was taking the vitamin code multis but they were too damn expensive and pretty low dose, so I recently switched to the NOW Adam multi for men and I like it. Check it out on iherb and tell me what you think. The thing about NOW is that a lot of the time they also seem to be the cheapest which is kind of backwards but I'm not complaining!

JHarsh80 - I agree, I really like NOW, they are high quality and they are very reasonable, often the best priced stuff in many cases.

As for the Adam product, sure the potency is higher, but the form is unlikely to be as well utilized as Vitamin Code. It is not a bad multi by any means though.

From the looks of it, it would appear to be rip off based on potency alone, but the difference on the molecular level and how the body uses this is much more powerful than the synthetic isolate.

CausticSymmetry wrote:JHarsh80 - I agree, I really like NOW, they are high quality and they are very reasonable, often the best priced stuff in many cases.

As for the Adam product, sure the potency is higher, but the form is unlikely to be as well utilized as Vitamin Code. It is not a bad multi by any means though.

From the looks of it, it would appear to be rip off based on potency alone, but the difference on the molecular level and how the body uses this is much more powerful than the synthetic isolate.

IH,

I'm not clear if you are speculating or if you actually looked at the forms of the vitamins in the Adam one? You know more about the different types of the individual vitamins- like the different forms of the B's for example. That was why I wanted your opinion on it. I think it has some of the more bioavailable (not sure if that is the correct word for it) forms of vitamins?

I'm with you on the vitamin code btw...as far as quantity being different than quantity. I honestly don't understand all the details of the vitamin code molecular structure and everything, but I know that it is a special process. One really expensive order I placed for my parents who take the mens and womens vitamin code...included a couple free books on the vitamin codes but that shipment went to them not me so I never read them. I do recall (if I remember correctly) that you said once that you really liked them, but you wished the dose was higher. I obviously wouldn't compare the price of the two because like you are saying- it's like apples to oranges as fas as the quality goes. I got that...I just think that for what you do get with Adam...the price is pretty good. At least that is what many people said in the iherb reviews. I take so many damn pills that even reducing the number a day by one makes a difference

JHarsh80 - To clarify, the Adam product by NOW is good. It's much better than most multi's on the market no doubt on that. It has two of the activated forms of B's (B6 and B12). It has a nice amount of Zinc and a mixed Magnesium--it's very good.

It only falls short if compared with the Vitamin Code.

Essentially you're getting a nice variety of vitamins and minerals including some that are not often found--which should be, such as Vanadium and Boron.

CausticSymmetry wrote:JHarsh80 - I agree, I really like NOW, they are high quality and they are very reasonable, often the best priced stuff in many cases.

As for the Adam product, sure the potency is higher, but the form is unlikely to be as well utilized as Vitamin Code. It is not a bad multi by any means though.

From the looks of it, it would appear to be rip off based on potency alone, but the difference on the molecular level and how the body uses this is much more powerful than the synthetic isolate.

What do you mean when you say "the difference on the molecular level"?

CausticSymmetry wrote:JHarsh80 - To clarify, the Adam product by NOW is good. It's much better than most multi's on the market no doubt on that. It has two of the activated forms of B's (B6 and B12). It has a nice amount of Zinc and a mixed Magnesium--it's very good.

It only falls short if compared with the Vitamin Code.

Essentially you're getting a nice variety of vitamins and minerals including some that are not often found--which should be, such as Vanadium and Boron.

Thanks IH, I appreciate it!

IH I looked into wheylow and it seems like a great product. I also tried looking for cheaper alternatives on iHerb. I came across this:
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=7762&at=0

The description talks about how fructose is fruit sugar, how its sweeter than regular sugar, and it also having 50% less calories for a similar serving of sugar.

I also saw where they mention that "fructose is now produced from corn syrup" and immediately I remembered the High Fructose Corn Syrup that Ive been avoiding for about 3 years now.
IH how is this NOW Foods product different than HFCS and is wheylow similar to this as well?

Thanks

zerx - I'm not a 100% certain, but this maybe HFCS. A very interesting documentary to check out is King Corn, it's entirely about HFCS and corn production.

There is a plus and a minus about Fructose used as a sweetener.

First the bad news: This is primarily metabolized through the liver, so any of the energy not used up via activity can contribute to a fatty liver and eventually contribute to poor glucose metabolism.

The good news, is that unlike sugar, it will have a very minimal impact on glucose and insulin levels. It's much more favorable to hair.

Many more minuseseseses :-) Increased AGEs and cardiovascular disease come to mind.

Role of fructose in glycation and cross-linking of proteins

Increased taurine with fructose consumption may help some for your skin, but I would not choose fructose for a sweetner.


How safe is fructose for persons with or without diabetes?

What about agave'? Does that spike blood sugar or have any side associated with it? Trader Joes is now selling it alongside honey in their stores.

Should honey be avoided?

NewReg - Agave should be avoided, it's actually worse than HFCS.

KAPTUNKRUNK - Honey is fine, especially if it's completely raw, because it is actually predigested.