Stevia is a safe, all-natural alternative to artificial sweetners and refined sugar in the diet.
It has been used for centuries by native Indians in Paraguay and consumed safely in massive quantities world-wide for the past 20 years. The Japanese use it in sugar-free versions of Wrigley's gums and diet Coke. It has undergone dozens of tests world-wide and was found to be free of toxins. However, one group of studies performed at the University of Illinois from 1985 to 1987 did find that Steviol, a metabolite of steviosides, was found to be mutagenic towards a specific Salmonella strain of bacteria. Even though, in 1990, the University of Sussex in Brighton cited several inconsistencies with the University of Illinois study, the FDA banned the importation of Stevia Rebaudiana leaves and extract into the U.S. in May 1991.