As the FDA has not approved the stevia as a food additive, it became a cause of concern for the consumers to know about the exact form of stevia side effects. Though, it has been used for the past several years as a sweetening agent in many countries, it is being resisted in the USA.
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Stevia is a member of the Asteraceae family, which contains almost 23,000 species and more than 1500 genera. This family is the second largest among all the families of flowering plants. Stevia is the perennial shrub with leaves containing the chemicals glycosides and the major component of these glycosides is stevioside. Stevia occupies almost 40% of the sweetener market in Japan.
Although the stevia is counted among the safe herbs, it is always wise to keep note of some stevia side effects that can prove to be dangerous, if left unattended for long. Persons, who are allergic to the use of ragweed, may also elicit allergic reactions to stevia. But not all, who suffer from the allergic reactions to ragweed, would show the allergic reactions to stevia as well.
If the stevia extract is consumed in large quantity without consulting a doctor, the user could face the problem of hypoglycemia. But to show any major effect on the blood pressure, the stevia must be consumed in much larger quantity than it is consumed as a sweetener.
Most of the people can use stevia without thinking much about the stevia side effects. The sweeteners, whose side effects should be taken care of, are the artificial sweeteners and not the stevia. Artificial sweeteners may show multiple side effects with serious consequences. Stevia can be used in both the cases of blood sugar level and they are hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.
However, some of the scientists conducting research on the potential toxicity and toxicology of stevia have some reservations about the stevia side effects. Intake of steviosides in large amounts can interfere with the process of carbohydrate absorption in the animals and the steviosides are the main component of stevia. Hence, stevia can also disrupt the overall process of food metabolism that coverts the food particles into energy for the organisms.
Some researches on stevia have successfully converted the steviol in a mutagenic compound and this mutagenic compound can cause the genetic mutation in many of the cells of an animal. The genetic mutation is a big cause of cancer development. But the scientists are still unable to show whether this mutagenic property of stevia can also be induced in the human cells or not.
Some studies have found the stevia side effects that can reduce the functionality of the male reproductive system. This has been proposed by the European scientists. In a study, a group of healthy male rats were continuously given high doses of stevia for almost 2 years. The outcome of this study resulted into a substantial decrease in the sperm production of male rats. Moreover, the weight of the seminal vesicles declined too. In another experiment, a group of female hamsters were fed with large amounts of steviol, which is a stevioside derivative. After this experiment the offspring of the hamsters were found to be smaller in size and fewer in number.
But all these experiments have not been executed on human subjects. Therefore, it is hard to tell if the humans would also exhibit the same symptoms of stevia side effects or not.
