Truvia

I'm not sure if any of you have seen the ads for Truvia- www.truvia.com (cut and past it over)... but it is Stevia made better... you still can't just sub it like splenda for sugar etc... but it might be a good alt for other things... here is the conversion chart... http://www.truvia.com/conversion-chart.html

I jsut started to see the ads this week... and they do have recipes on their website... but it also contains carbs... so it is something we would have to watch unlike with splenda etc...

hey shannon!! They had this at the OH Event I got some samples and they carry it alot of places. I even have the girls here at work using it now!! They only used REAL sugar and LOVE the truvia. I think its great.. alittle more pricey but really not much more than the rest of the stuff out there on the market.

I havent had any problems with it. But i also dont use alot. I use one packet with my coffee and i usaully refill my cup half way thru with coffee.

Never heard of it but I know Stevia is good stuff so I'm going to look into it, thanks for posting this!

Keri

Hi Folks,
I started using Truvia a couple of days ago as well.  I really like it.  It is slightly more expensive, the packets a a little larger and I think it tastes like sugar.  I am a migraine sufferer so I needed to find something that didn't have aspartame/cause migraines and Truvia doesn't.  It's stevia but a name brand.  I still need to do the research on the carb part, but using it for caffeine free coffee is all I'm using it for so far.  Aspartame free stuff is the way to for calorie-free sugar replacements too as the others (like NutraSweet) are known cancer causers.  Thanks for the info on the conversion site!

Shauna 

which store did you find it at? I want to find some to send it home with my mom...

It does taste pretty good.

We will soon be seeing COKE products made with Truvia once final approvals come through.

Coca-Cola Co. is expected to launch a drink in the U.S. this week containing a natural, calorie-free sweetener, intensifying a race with PepsiCo Inc. to dominate a new generation of noncarbonated beverages. Coke is pushing ahead even though the Food and Drug Administration as of Sunday hadn't issued a formal blessing of the ingredient.

Coke plans to market three flavors of a juice drink in its Odwalla line that contain the sweetener, derived from the herb stevia, according to people familiar with Coke's plans.

Pepsi has several drinks ready to go in the U.S. market with the sweetener -- three flavors of a zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater and an orange-juice drink called Trop50, containing half the calories and sugar of OJ. But Pepsi is waiting for the FDA to clear the additive. "We're ready to go the moment we get the green light," Massimo d'Amore, Pepsi's Americas beverage chief, told investors at a conference last month. In August Pepsi began selling an enhanced water drink with the sweetener in Peru, where stevia is approved.

Stevia is approved for use in at least 12 countries and as a dietary supplement in the U.S. But after some studies suggested adverse health effects from stevia-based products, such as potential mutations in the livers of rats, the FDA concluded in the early 1990s that data weren't sufficient to allow its use as a food additive.

Coke, Pepsi and companies they are working with say their sweetener -- called Truvia by Coke and PureVia by Pepsi -- is more highly purified than the versions of stevia used in those tests, and that new data have been submitted to the FDA. Cargill Inc., which teamed up with Coke, and Whole Earth Sweetener Co., which is working with Pepsi, say research they sponsored and submitted to the FDA in May found it to be safe.

The FDA said it doesn't have a specific date for completion of the review. A Coke spokesman declined to comment on the company's product-launch plans.

The FDA's go-ahead -- in the form of a "no objection" letter -- isn't required under the voluntary notification program through which the sweetener is being evaluated. But an official notice would help the companies assure consumers and retailers -- and ensure that the companies avoid the embarrassment of pulling a product off the market if the FDA does indeed object.

Consumer advocates have criticized the FDA's voluntary program for new ingredients as too industry-friendly. "Companies should not be allowed to market a food ingredient before the FDA has reviewed the data and concluded that it is safe," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer watchdog group.

Cargill, which spent six years developing the sweetener, defends the FDA notification process as transparent because the company sought comment from outside experts, including critics, and published research findings in a scientific journal earlier this year. "We're confident in the safety of the ingredient," said Amy Boileau, Cargill's manager of regulatory and scientific affairs. "If the agency had questions or concerns, we would know."

Underscoring its confidence ahead of the FDA's word, Cargill began selling a tabletop version of the sweetener in the U.S. in July and is launching an ad campaign Monday to build sales. The campaign, developed by Ogilvy & Mather, focuses on the natural derivation of the sweetener, with visuals of the stevia leaf.

Whole Earth Sweetener Co., a unit of Merisant Co., also sells a tabletop version of PureVia but is holding off on marketing for the moment. "We want to have the FDA's support first," said a spokesman.

Dr. Brader's nutritionist suggested I switch to Truvia from Splenda as I was having some memory and anxiety issues (both of which a recent study indicated can happen to some folks when using too much Splenda).   I do see  a difference.   When I have Splenda in my coffee a couple days in a row I tend to have paranoia and every little thing gets on my nerves til I work myself into an anxiety attack and I get "*****y" (who? me?) on very little reason.  When I strictly use the Truvia I don't.  I will say DD latte does not taste the same with Truvia (it's more bitter/metallic) so I tend not to drink as much coffee now or maybe have 1 or 2 a week with the Splenda...if I don't have their coffee I'm a ***** if I do have too much w/Splenda I'm a ***** hmmm...do we see a pattern here???   I don't think coffee needs a full packet; 1/2 seems better to me.  Stevia (in the raw) has too much of the anise taste so has limited uses I think.   It was also recommended to me to try Organic sugar cane juice crystals which are supposed to have a low/no glycemic index.  They have carbs but they are natural and not refined so they contain many essential nutrients and don't digest the same as refined sugars.  I believe their flavoring tends towards the molasses taste.  I have not tried it yet but have seen it sold in Genuardi's so I can't say as to whether "dumping" would happen with that product.   I've had no dumping with Truvia, it has 4 carbs.

Here's a great site on organic sugars.  http://www.wholesomesweeteners.com/catproduct/2/Wholesome_Sw eeteners_Retail_Products.html

Jen told me about Truvia the other night when she and Debi and Heather were over and some people had said you can find it at WalMart.  I didn't see that there, but I did see the Stevia.  

 
But yesterday, I found the Truvia at Genuardis/Safeway.   It was $4.69 for a box that was about 4x6x2. :-)

I didn't buy any yet because I'm up for surgery on Monday and plan on going to the store for everything I need tomorrow or Saturday.  I hope what other people are saying about this stuff is true because  this may save me since NutraSweet makes me get migraines and I throw up and get massive migraines on Splenda too.