Other countries, like Japan have been using stevia since the 1970s. Despite the incredible amount of studies that indicate the safety of stevia, the FDA has approved its use as a dietary supplement, not as a sweetener or food additive. Stevia can be used in cooking and baking. But it's highly concentrated and very sweet, so you only need tiny amounts per use. One flat mini-spoonful is equivalent to about a teaspoon of sugar's sweetness.
Stevia can replace sugar in the diet.
Refined sugar is virtually devoid of nutritional benefits and, at best, represents empty calories in the diet. At worst, it has been implicated in numerous degenerative diseases. Stevia has none of sugar's unhealthy drawbacks. Japanese and Brazilian usage indicates stevia offers a safe, all-natural, alternative to chemical sugar substitutes. And industrial usage in Japan proves that this substitution is both practical and economical.