Stevia - the almost perfect sweetener & sugar substitute
A recent visit to Kroger yielded the following info for stevia fans. Not all stevia is born equal. Here are the ones which are acceptable. The rest contain dextrose or fructose or even sucrose (sugar) which defeats the whole point of replacement, completely.
For the purposes of our nutritional discussions, dextrose and glucose are identical (dextrose is an optical stereoisomer of glucose - same atoms, different arrangement.) Sucrose becomes fructose plus glucose as soon as the enzyme, sucrase, acts on it so, in effect, the detrimental effects of fructose and sucrose are equivalent. What all that means is avoid stevia blends with these ingredients.
The acceptable ingredients are erythritol (a zero cal sugar alcohol) and Rebaudioside A, or Reb A, as it is commonly known. Given that it is 200 times sweeter than sugar you don't need much in there anyway. The three blends shown below are all compliant. Check your labels carefully before you buy.
