I received this via a mailing list that I belong to and felt it would be of interest to readers of this BB.
I have used Stevia rather than diastatic malt when making bread sutiable for a perfect whole food diet. I followed Beth Loiselle's spelt bread machine recipe and substituted stevia for diastatic malt.
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Zoltan P. Rona, M.D. wrote about Stevia in Health Naturally in Aug/Sept. 1996 issue. He said that stevia is a perennial shrub, the extracts of which have been used for centuries as a safe, natural sweetener by people in Paraguay and Brazil. Virtually calorie-free, stevia prevents cavities and does not trigger a rise in blood sugar. It is well known for aiding diabetics because it helps in the metabolism of sugar. If asked in many countries where it is used what it is, the reply would probably be "its a sweetener".
For years Stevia was embargoed in the U.S. and many felt that the FDA with strong loyalty to Monsanto maker of the poison, aspartame, didn't want competition. With years of pressure finally they agreed for approval as a dietary supplement and lifted the embargo.
The public doesn't care what you call Stevia as long as there is finally something with a record of thousands of years of safety that they can rely on, and something that will allow diabetics to sweeten their food and add taste enjoyment to life. Aspartame on the other hand according to diabetic specialist H. J. Roberts, M.D., causes in diabetics destruction of the optic nerve, out-of-control blood sugar, and even convulsions. Many suffer from the agonizing joint pain triggered by aspartame (hardens the synovial fluids) believing they are suffering from diabetic retinopathy or
fibromyalgia.
According to Dr. Rona there has never been a report of an adverse reaction linked to stevia while complaints flood into Mission Possible on aspartame from seizures and blindness to brain tumors and death. The FDA Report
itself lists 92 documented symptoms including death. They are not even acknowledging to the press the true number of complaints and even in Congress it was admitted that they have gone so far as to refer complaints to the AIDS Hotline to prevent their record. But even with their blind eye
and deaf ear the disease and death continues on aspartame in record numbers and a paper distributed at the First International Conference on Emerging Diseases written by Dr. Roberts has declared Aspartame to be a disease and
worldwide epidemic.
Dr. Rona said in his article "For apparently no good reason other than political, stevia is under attack by the U.S. Food and Drug Adm. .. In 1991, the FDA banned stevia imports for use in foods, reported at the request of an aspartame manufacturer. Stevia is also non-patentable,
another undesirable feature for the drug barons." Dozens of well-designed studies of stevia's safety, chemistry and stability for use in different food products have been published worldwide.
Is this the message the FDA sends us: "Do not call it what it is, do not use it for what its been used for centuries, and do not educate others on its health factors and use. We will continue to deny that aspartame is a deadly drug, and propagate the myth that it is the most tested drug in
history. We will steadfastly continue our undying loyalty to Monsanto Chemical, the largest manufacturer of poisons in the world."
Read on for Mark Gold's article and do as he says in educating yourself on the history of Stevia. Carefully follow the instructions in his last paragraph. Here is the formula of how you take lemons and make lemonade:
Spread this note the world over so that more people than ever will be educated on Stevia, and that more journalists will write about it. And make sure that the FDA understands that the Salem Witch trials are over. We cannot tolerate this betrayal of public trust by a government agency.
Weren't the raids legend during the era of the dietary supplement bill to save vitamins
In Reply to: Stevia as a Whole Food Sweetner/Aspartame Replacement and the FDA - this was a shocker to me posted by Peter Wray on May 23, 1998 at 21:41:51:
Dear Peter,
To MY knowledge, everything you have included in this note is true! It is just one more example of the fact that the public health is near the bottom of the list of priorities when it comes to economic power plays.
Talk about "conflict of interest"! The very profession that is supposed to be protecting our health is the one that makes the most money treating our "diseases".
When it THIS going to be on "60 Minutes"?
How much longer will the public "take" this?
Walt
In Reply to: Stevia as a Whole Food Sweetner/Aspartame Replacement and the FDA - this was a shocker to me posted by Peter Wray on May 23, 1998 at 21:41:51:
Thank you for your very illuminating post on the hazards of consuming aspartame. A s a hypoglycemic, I have depended on artificial sweetners for many years, first saccharin and now aspartame.
Aafter reading your post, I am strongly motivated to eleminate all sweetners from my diet. Zarin
Significant short-term memory los has been directly attributed to extended use of aspartame, ingested in large amounts. A person may not realize how large the amounts of aspartame are; however, one only needs to read labels of products in the home and you will find it in jello, Alka-Seltzer Plus, toothpaste, breakfast cereals, and a number of health-related products. Add to this a person who drinks between three to six diet soft drinks daily -- and this person is ingesting huge amounts. It is not wise to use this substance at all, but certainly not in large amounts.