stevia

A naturally sweet herb called stevia is gaining in popularity as a sugar substitute, especially in beverages. Food additives must provide evidence of their safety and effectiveness before receiving FDA approval, and stevia lacks this approval for use as a sweetener because so little is known about its effects on human health, save that it can be absorbed by the human digestive tract.

Stevia is a natural, non-fattening sweetener that is 30 to 100 times sweeter than sugar and without any of the aftertaste that is common in many sugar substitutes.