I thought I had finally found a healthy drink I liked with no artificial sweetness and they had to go and fuck it up
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Mildly Infuriating
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On the plus side, stevia isn't artificial.
What is "artificial?"
It is all marketing BS
Generally, artificial sweeteners are chemically synthesized while natural sweeteners are grown and refined.
I used to grow the stevia plant in my garden.
Does that matter at all?
In reality it is all arbitrary. By that definition table salt is artificial and poison nightshade is natural.
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/05/24/mythbusting-gone-wrong-how-dangerous-organic-pesticide-myth-began/
Hey, you asked... I just answered.
Salt is also a poison
but "table salt" contains iodine, and that requires a refining brine which is an industrial process. Its natural but also not. When it comes down to it, lots of this is splitting hairs
its like some vegans cant decide if a FIG is natural or not, since wild figs, or normal ones are fertilized by fig wasps and thier parasitoids. the fig wasps die in the fig after laying its eggs and fertilizing.
Can you differentiate synthesis and refinement for me?
I would say synthesis in this example is the creation of a molecular compound from differing source materials while refinement is the isolation and concentration of an existing compound.
That's precisely why I use it in my coffee and have for many years. However there's a big difference from one brand to another I've found. Sweet Leaf stevia drops are the only kind I'll use now.
i use it too, because almost all the other brands have dextrose, which is basically actual sugar, or ehtyrithiol, which is a sweetener, but it can cause GI issues. I bought 2 boxes from amazon to try it out, its worht it. its pricey but not sugar is better.
Yeah the first stevia I ever got had dextrose in it and literally 8 grains was enough, it was silly. I didn't know until I was almost done that it was just basically sugar.
It's interesting to read people's reactions to stevia. I don't seem to have the same reactions/aftertaste others point out.
I much prefer stevia over other sweeteners. I wonder if there is some sort of cilantro type thing going on.
Edit: Turns out stevia can taste different to other people!
Imo stevia is one of the best of the no calorie sweeteners, but since that entire category is absolutely abhorrent that's sort of like being called the fastest snail.
I think we have to allow that when you’re raised on sugar like we all were, substitutes are never going to live up.
However lots of people throughout history didn’t have refined sugar. The ancient Egyptians for example. What would they have thought of stevia?
I once went on a strict no-carb diet for a few months and a stevia tea at the end of the day was a very enjoyable treat that I looked forward to. Now, having gone back to a normal diet, it doesn’t taste as good.
So I think habituation is a big part of it.
I mean of course, yes, but since I can't change my environment or context all I can do is speak on my own perspective informed my own context and experiences.
Like I'm not sure what your point is here, just that this obviously subjective topic is subjective? Yes, of course it is. And yes of course my response was likewise subjective, but given the inherent nature of the topic the idea of addending "in my opinion" to the end feels extremely unnecessary.
So again, I don't disagree with you, but this feels entirely non-sequitur to me.
I’m saying it’s even more than just subjective from one person to the next. I described how I changed my environment and context and how that had an effect. Your opinion can change.
I think you’re upsetting yourself trying to figure out if I’m agreeing or disagreeing with you but It’s a discussion. People chip in different bits.
Not upset, just confused. No ire anywhere, I assure you. Cheers.
You disparaged the entire category. Which is a fairly common take. I’m saying that the moment we frame that category as sugar substitutes, in a highly sugar-driven world, the category is bound to compare poorly. It’s more than just subjective, it’s very slanted in one direction - for all of us.
But there are other frames of reference we could consider. Such as a world that isn’t saturated with sugar. Or even a personal diet that removes sugar as the frame of reference. “The examined life” that’s supposedly so worth living consists of trying not to just automatically react to the context we are in, but also consider alternatives, right?
You’re more than entitled to your opinion, and most share it. I’m just pointing out built-in biases that we all have on this question. If it was hard to figure out how my reply followed from your comment, it might be because I was trying to offer it without invalidating your opinion in any way.
That is clearer, thank you.
the sweetleaf brand doesnt have the wierd dextrose ingredients that the others have, i used 2 different ones and they all had sugar in it.
I've had a fresh stevia leaf before, totally amazingly delicious. However i can't stand it as a sweetener in drinks.
And none of us can ever really know what anything actually tastes like to anyone else.
Why wouldn't you just use sugar
If you are going to mistreat your body then go big or go home.
Aspartame gives me headaches. Like “I can’t interact with people” headaches. I’ve tried it a few times and it’s always directly afterwards.
That said Stevia gives me a reaction like I had 5x the same amount of sugar, so I just have to remember if I’m adding it to something don’t use much or I’ll be hyper and then crash terribly. But at least I don’t get headaches.
Sugar gives me no problems if I have it in moderation. I generally drink water, but if I have a soda, I have one and I’m done. It’s a treat, not a way of life. Drink water people, it’s actually good for you.
It is all really terrible for you in the long run. There are phycological impacts of sweetness.
Also drinking anything heavily flavored is problematic for your kidneys and heart. A little coffee or tea isn't a problem but if you start drinking Soda as a water replacement it will come back to bite you.
I do agree that terms "artificial", "chemicals", "non GMO" and "organic" are BS. Ultimately it is more phycological than anything.
"its all bad in the long run" doesnt mean that one isnt significantly worse. If youre smoking, why not just do meth instead? Both will kill you.
I dont use sweeteners because of the aftertaste but I wont deny that sugar is much worse for my health. I dont consume enough to make it an actual problem though.
Diabetes?
Stevia does have a bit of an aftertaste, but it's fine for me in, say, coffee.
IIRC, the major limiting issue with aspartame is that it's not heat-stable to the degree that sugar is, so there are a bunch of products that are made with sugar that you can't make with aspartame, problem for baking.
kagis
Yeah:
https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/aspartame-and-other-sweeteners-food
There is no one alternative sweetener that has all of sugar's properties, just without the calories, which is what people really want.
Stevia has the aftertaste. Aspartame isn't heat stable. A lot of the sugar alcohols -- like xylitol, which is really common in sugar-free candy -- are laxatives, so if you eat that whole bag of candy, you are going to have horrendous diarrhea. You gotta use a patchwork of alternative sweeteners to replace sugar, based on the properties of a particular sugar use.
Bag of candy? Try a handful of sorbitol gummies and you will poop.
I prefer stevia to just regular sugar. I go out of my way when buying soda to get ones with stevia because they just taste better.
You do realize manufactures have to wear gas masks when pouring in that junk right?
Might not be artificial, but it doesn't look natural in sweetener form:
The process of extracting stevia -
Dried stevia leaves are subjected to purified water first. Then followed by a precipitation process with ferric chloride and calcium hydroxide to remove non-soluble plant materials & other impurities and follow filtration.
Then the leaf extract goes through an adsorption resin, which is used to trap the steviol glycosides of the leaf extract.
Afterward, wash the resin with ethanol to release steviol glycosides and decolorize the resulting solution with activated carbon to remove the colors in leaves, and then concentrated by evaporation.
Again, go through the process of decolorization, filtration and spray-drying. The spray-dried product is then combined with similarly processed additional extracts, dissolved in ethanol and/or methanol, crystallized and filtered. Finally, after further processes of crystallization, filtered and spray-dried to obtain pure stevioside.
Taken from here: https://foodadditives.net/natural-sweeteners/stevioside/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-1949
You don't know how sugar is made, do you?
Or agave syrup apparently
They don't get simple chemistry is required to refine and purify stuff either apparently lol
More info here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_refinery
So they’re washed with soap and water? Must we use the scariest language possible here?
Yeah , it’s from an actual plant.
Unless it's mixed with erythritol
The ingredients only say stevia leaf extract, nothing about erythritol.
If I drink a lot pineapple juice, would it be considered artificial sweetness?
only for your cum
some people dont like the taste of stevia, i used at least the ones that have actual stevia, and not just filled with dextrose, which is basically sugar, or ethyrithiol. its pricier and less sweet. ALot of stevia products will have sugar in it. i buy the sweet leaf, i heard you can get pure stevia leaves, but its expensive.