The commercial jingle for Truvia is SO catchy but it REALLY annoys me for a lot of reasons. The biggest issue I have with this product is that it's the latest marketing brain-child meant to fool people into thinking that they can be healthy and still eat processed crap from a cute-looking package. I know the commercial isn't that new, but since I've been watching a bit more Food Network lately, I've seen it a lot more often. It's pretty disheartening that Truvia is such a huge sponsor of Food Network programming. I'm a big fan of people learning how to cook, but seeing these commercials in between every segment of a cooking show, well, it's aggravating me to no end.
In fact, this argument applies also to Splenda (sucralose), Equal (aspartame), Sweet & Low (saccharin) and any other chemical/non-caloric sweetners you might find out there. If you want my general take on sugar and sweeteners, check out my post “The Dish on Sugar & Sweeteners,” but this rant is dedicated to Truvia.
And so the jingle goes…
“I loved you sweetness, but you're not sweet, you made my butt fat.
You drove me insane, self-control down the drain. We're over I'm so done with that.
I found a new love, a natural true love that comes from a little green leaf.
Zero calorie guilt free no artificiality, my skinny jeans zipped in relief.
It's name is truvia I had no idea no more sprinkling my coffee with grief.
Truvia: Honestly Sweet.”
 |
| This is what stevia plants look like in nature. Yep, they're GREEN! |
Let's dissect this thing in sections, shall we?
“I loved you sweetness, but you're not sweet you made my butt fat. You drove me insane, self-control down the drain. We're over I'm so done with that.”
Okay, this part is legit. Sugar WILL make your butt fat. Eating sugar will also make you crave more sugar and the idea of self-control against it is, well, unnatural. Seriously. We are WIRED UP, pre-programmed and destined to want to eat sweet things with wild abandon when we find them. How can this be? Well, for thousands of years, we didn't have access to the amount of sugary, sweet, processed foods that we do now. We had fruit and maybe some honey if we could find it to eat after battling some bees in the way. And, in the event we found these foods in the wild, we would eat them to satiety and likely hoard more for later. The times of the year when these dense sources of sugar/carbohydrates would have been available was likely a warm season that preceded a cold season. Translation: our bodies naturally want to fatten up before we might need to use the body fat to help keep us warm and provide self-fueling in the less abundant cold months. It seems only natural, right? In a modern world of sugar and dense-carbohydrate abundance, self-control is nearly impossible. This natural inclination to eat sweet things and get fatter in the summer to prepare for the more vegetation-barron winter is pretty contrary to what most of us try to do in the modern world come bathing suit season, isn't it?!
According to a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:
“… it seems likely that relatively few psychological processes are as expensive as self-control in terms of requiring large amounts of glucose. There are two reasons for thinking that self-control is unusual, even if not unique. First, what it accomplishes is rather advanced and difficult. We assume that the psychological system evolved to want and do things. To interrupt and override these well-established responses, especially after they are already in process, seems quite difficult. In plain terms, an animal may have evolved to feel and act on strong desires, such as for food or sex, and so self-control requires an inner mechanism strong enough to counter those powerful responses. Second, the widespread occurrence of self-control failures is evidence that self-control is not easy, and high metabolic cost would be one likely explanation for this.”
The study I'm referencing above also explains how difficult it can be to maintain willpower in the absence of adequate blood sugar levels. You might think that this is contrary to my point, but it's not. The more sugar/glucose/carbs you eat, if  your insulin sensitivity is in check and works properly, the more reactive your blood sugar becomes and the risk of then experiencing a hypoglycemic state, or LOW blood sugar, is then increased. Do you see how our natural physiology sets you up for failure in your efforts to avoid consuming sweets when presented with them in abundance?
So, this part of the jingle bears some truth and if you're interested in getting healthy, losing weight and keeping it off, cutting SUGAR/sweeteners/dense & refined carbohydrate sources from your diet is probably the top tip I'd give you. Interestingly enough, sugar is THE thing I struggled with for many, many years. As a result of my struggle, I have written a 21-Day Sugar Detox Program, (a whole-food based, gentle detox) to help those of you who suffer from sugar and carb cravings to help you push the reset button and break free.
Onward…
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| When you open this package of stevia, the powder is green. As it should be. |
“I found a new love, a natural true love that comes from a little green leaf.”
Ahem, have any of you SEEN Truvia? It's a white, crystal powder. Have any of you SEEN a Stevia plant? It is, in fact, a green plant. Do you sprinkle your food with white, powdered crystals of basil? Hmm… I didn't think so. This white powdered substance does not resemble anything natural that would have come from a green leaf. In fact, you CAN buy powdered green stevia and that, my friends, is natural. You can make that in your house by growing a plant, picking the leaves, drying them and grinding them up. How do you think that Cargill makes white Truvia crystals from a green plant? Do you think you could do that in your own kitchen? I didn't think so. Additionally, it's ingredients are: “Erythritol, Rebiana, Natural Flavors.” According to The FDA's Code of Federal Regulations Title 21:
“The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional. natural flavors include the natural essence or extractives obtained from plants listed in 182.10, 182.20, 182.40, and 182.50 and part 184 of this chapter, and the substances listed in 172.510 of this chapter.”
Gross. We have NO idea what the words “natural flavors” mean when they're written on a food label. I wouldn't buy anything with those words in the ingredient list. And neither should you.
And finally…
“Zero calorie guilt free no artificiality, my skinny jeans zipped in relief.
First of all, aritficiality isn't a word. Maybe if they want to claim it's not “artificial” that would be a flat-out lie, so they made up a word to avoid that…? Advertising loophole? But, I digress. This idea that eating something sweet that is devoid of calories will keep you skinny (and let's not even get into the fact that being skinny isn't healthy) has been shown anecdotally as well as in research to be false. Since sweet things in nature, of which we human animals are a part whether we like it or not, will carry caloric load and require a metabolic processes to digest and assimilate, our physiological response to a sweet taste is to initiate a hormonal response as if we are eating a sweet food that DOES contain calories. When, in nature, would you EVER find something sweet that is devoid of calories? You wouldn't. Duh! And why would you WANT to? Sweet food indicates calories which indicates an energy source. Don't forget, we are animals who have instincts. Why are we always trying to fight nature by creating “healthier” products to consume? It baffles my mind. I used to eat these things too. That said, if you consume calorie-free sweet foods thinking you're doing yourself a favor, well, you're wrong. According to a 2008 Behavioral Neuroscience report, “… consumption of products containing artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by interfering with fundamental homeostatic, physiological processes.”
At the end of the day, whether or not we are going to gain weight from eating certain foods and not others comes down to an issue of hormonal regulation, not simply calories-in-calories-out. The foods we eat affect our hormones whether we like it or not. The status of our hormones (think insulin, glucagon, leptin and grehlin here), are going to be telling the real story when it comes to our ability to control our waistline. Presuming that eating a non-caloric, processed product born of food-marketing genius will allow us to trick our bodies is against what Mother Nature plans and downright foolish of us. All this is to say nothing of the fact that when our bodies attempt to process a non-food/chemical product that it's our fat cells that get bigger by storing the toxins away from our blood where they'd cause harm to our bodies.
Nope, Cargill can't outsmart Mother Nature (or you!) with a cute packet of white powder.
Enjoy & be well!
Diane Sanfilippo
BS, Certified Nutrition Educator, C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach
San Francisco Nutritionist & Paleo Nutritionist serving the Bay Area and beyond via phone & Skype consultations.
Sources:
“A Role For Sweet Taste: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats.” (PDF) Behavioral Neuroscience. Volume 122, 2008.
“Self-Control Relies on Glucose as a Limited Energy Source: Willpower Is More Than a Metaphor.” (PDF) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Volume 92, No. 2, 325–336, 2007.
Comments 49
And beware that Stevia boxes now contain maltodextrin. Read the labels.
You missed some of the biggest problems with these commercials. The first is the shame that all diet ads use. The weight loss industry uses plenty of bad science to exaggerate the risks of being overweight, when the truth is women unlike men don’t suffer adverse health affects until their BMI approaches 40. Additionally, white culture has villified the fat ass when in reality it is a universal sign of health and fertility and has protective benefits for your heart. The fat a woman has on her ass is actually used in creating the fetal brain, and the two have become enlarged together through sexual selection. The fact that women like yourself claim to be interested in promoting health while pushing weight loss makes me sick. No matter what technique you use, making thinness a priority is always unhealthy and unnatural. Men are supposed to like thick curvy women.
@Kathleen- ABSOLUTELY! The only ingredient in Stevia if you're going to buy it should be STEVIA! 🙂
I have been doing a lot of research on how these white 'Stevia' powders and crystals are made. While you have to dig, A LOT I have found some official documents admitting to what they actually use in their process of 'naturally extracting the Reb. A and stevioside'.
So here's what they do. I have at least two different documents that back this up.
They mix stevia leaves in hot water(50C to 60C) for 20-30min. This extracts the desired chemicals and preformed 2-3 times.
"The aqueous extract(liquid from extraction) is removed by draining, using pressure to ensure the maximum amount of extract. …The extract is allowed to cool at room temperature. The extract contains the sweetener principles(the natural sweeteners in Stevia Reb. A and steviocide), the plant's pigments, and other WATER SOLUBLE COMPONENTS(emphasis mine)." These water soluble components are left over chemicals.
"Conventional extraction processed to obtain steviol glycoside-containing extracts"(the sweetness factor) "that are described in the literature follow similar methodologies: Stevia leaves are extracted with hot water. …leaves are pretreated with NON-POLAR SOLVENTS"(emphasis mine) "such as CHLOROFORM or HEXANE to remove essential oils, lipids, chlorophyll, and other non-polar substances."
In case you didn't know Chloroform has been classed as a class 2A carcinogen which means it most DEFINATELY causes cancer. Hexane is a by-product of refining petrol(oil).
"The extract is clarified by precipitation with salt or alkaline solutions, concentrated, and re-dissolved in methanol or AQUEOUS ETHANOL for crystallization of the glycosides."
At the bottom of both of my pdf files it says this. "(>95% total steviol glycosides) will contain, in addition to saccharides other than those associated with the indivifual steviol glycosides RESIDUAL EXTRACTION/RECRYSTALLIZATION SOLVENT and possibly RESIDUS OF ION-EXCHANGE RESINS used in the manufacturing process. The level of the non-glycosidic fraction, because of its hightly non-polar character, can be considered insignificant in the additive. …The maximum limit for residual methanol of 200mg/kg and maximum limit for residual ethanol of 5000mg/kg. …maximum limits of 1 mg/kg for both ARSENIC and LEAD were maintained"
The fact that they have to specify acceptable limits for both arsenic and lead is horrifying. However if you read that last part. They allow left over Methanol and Ethanol in the final product. KNOW WHAT YOU'RE EATING! :O
Arsenic is found in ALL natural foods. This is due to pesticides used years ago… our ground still holds these chemicals, thus containing arsenic.
I am drinking a coffee with truvia as we speak. I like it. “real” sugar makes me break out… and so far, truvia has helped me maintain my breakouts. 🙂 I LOVE YOU TRUVIA.
Have you tried some of the other versions of stevia? The green is a little grassy tasting, so if you really want to use an extracted form you could try the sweet leaf brand. One bottle lasts me months. It doesn’t have all the additives stevia has and it isn’t made by a totally unethical company like Cargill. I totally understand loving stevia (I have been a fan for about 8 years! I try to limit it though for health reasons) but there are other options that would be a lot better for you and the rest of the world if more people chose them.
In case of confusion… I meant all the other additives “Truvia” has.
I am more worried about what we breathe into our lungs when we walk down the street. Filthy air surely is more disgusting than a tiny bit of residue. (paleo, raw, etc fan). Why do people always forget about air pollution and how intensely bad it is? It would probably take a hundred years of eating processed stevia to have the impact of a day walking around the city. Just a thought…
The Navitas brand of stevia is unavailable from Amazon and from the Navitas website. Any other sources you would recommend?
Stevia powder is not available from the Navitas website. Does anyone know a source?
This seems like the perfect place to pose my dilemma. I don't use Truvia, but I do use Crystal Light. I know – same issues. But honestly, the only reason I use it is because water is the only thing I drink and the only way I can even drink it is if it's flavored. Lemon doesn't work because it just tastes like weak, nasty lemonade. I don't even like the Crystal Light! It just makes the water palatable. I know that being a Paleo person and saying I hate water is tantamount to heresy, but it's an honest statement. I can only force two bottles of water down a day and that's only with the Crystal Light. I try to keep it in perspective by remembering the days when I went through a 2 liter of soda a day, but I cringe every time I open one of those envelopes. I've tried just drinking water, but I end up getting in maybe half a bottle in a day and that's ALL my liquid intake. I've tried it cold, I've tried it room temperature – all horrible. So I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. I will say this – the longer I'm on Paleo the more I hate the fake flavor, but it's still the only way I can get any water in. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Cheryl,
I am absolutely in the same boat; I have never been able to drink plain water as is. I found that I do like carbonated water though. I bought a Sodastream about a month ago and love it!
Best of luck!
Teshon
I also got a Sodastream and love it. No need to use the syrups, it tastes great all on it’s own. I don’t drink all my water carbonated but it does make for a nice change.
Have you tried sticking an herbal teabag in the water and letting it soak overnight? Or making a little hot water to steep it and then mixing that with water? I like my water lightly flavored that way. If you want it stung you could just use iced herbal tea like hibiscus. I also like mint-licorice.
Drinking Crystal Light is not the same as drinking water. The only thing you drink is not water, the only thing you drink is Crystal Light. Why not make real lemonade or limeade, full strength or herbal tea (CS Red Zinger is one of the few commercial brands free from soy lecithin) and sweeten it with a real stevia, I recommend the one by Donna Gates of Body Ecology.
In addition, it is highly likely Truvia and PureVia are from genetically modified plants. Their plants are grown in China mostly, very suspect at best.
@Cheryl-
I suggest spiking water with other kinds of juice if necessary. Even juice is better than chemicals. That said, maybe some EFT to work on your distaste for water? I think it's all in your head. When I can't taste anything/am sick I have trouble with water sometimes, but otherwise not. Water is the only thing we were designed to drink. Period. It's a matter of educating yourself on what you're drinking every day and then choosing to either damage your body or not. That's your choice as the owner of that body.
I had never heard of EFT and had to Google it. It sounds interesting and is certainly worth a shot. Thanks, Diane! I'm sure it's all in my head, too! 🙂 Plus, after reading what Suede Hills had to say, just imagining what's in that stuff is pretty scary!
Cheryl White, have you tried different types of tea? Coconut water is also relatively low cal / high nutrient & yummy as long as you find an all-natural one and kombucha is another alternative, but expensive unless you make your own.
Oooooh Thanks for this post. I think it's way too easy to be lulled into oblivion by the health food industry. Yes, we'd all love to be able to eat/drink as much sweet stuff as we want without gaining weight or having other health problems. Reality is we can't. Period. Get control of your blood sugar, you get control of your weight. Real food! 🙂
Love your posts. Sad that there's another crazy substitute for sugar that's being promoted as a health product.
Thanks for letting people know!
Cara
This is great! Food marketing is out of control. Love spreading the truth! Rule of thumb if it claims to be healthy in any way…its probably not.
Fruit teas are an awesome idea for getting more water in, blueberry and cherry are really good. Once you refrain from sugar and sweet things for so long the teas taste really sweet without adding anything.
Another thing that helps me drink a lot of water is to carry around a water bottle everywhere I go. Something about having it there makes me drink. I play games with myself to see how many "water bottles" I can drink in a day. I also get my husband involved and we'll compare our scores at the end of the day.
Peas&Love,
Shanna
Hi Diane~
Thanks for the eye opening article on Trivia. I was a Truvia user and have stopped using it since reading this.
My question is, what happens to the toxins that have been stored in the fat cells after one stops using artificial sweeteners? Where does it go? Does it ever leave those cells?
Lucinda
I want to watch television with you! LOL. This is the kind of stuff that goes through my head when I see commercials like this and everyone in my house is tired of the ranting. 🙂
I'm confused. There is a "caption" about halfway down the page that says "When you open this
package of stevia, the powder is green.
As it should be." I don't see an image. url leads here :
http://www.amazon.com/Navitas-Naturals-Organic-Natural-Resealable/dp/B002LC3J4O
Is this form of stevia acceptable to use in a paleo diet?
@Johnny- That powder from Navitas is green. I've purchased it before.
I consider green-leaf stevia acceptable to use for a paleo/whole foods diet, though as you can probably comprehend from this post and my others on sweeteners, they are all to be avoided regularly and only used now and then in moderation. I personally use some honey or maple syrup more often than green stevia as I don't care for the taste as much.
I hope that helps to clarify for you.
I've found Stevia pretty easy to grow. It needs good drainage, they don't like their feet wet. I dry it, store it, and crush it when needed. Just a small leaf in a pot of tea is enough sweet. A good motto, if it has a label, I probably shouldn't be buying it.
Diane, I just wanted to thank you for reminding me to simply own my choices. I try to do this as a matter of course, but sometimes I slip into the old, bad habit of rationalization and need a smack in the head. I haven’t had any Crystal Light since leaving that comment. The first couple of days there were a lot of cravings for it which tells me right there that it’s addictive and needs to be avoided. Since then I’ve had no issues with water. I still don’t drink a lot of it, but I don’t mind it so much anymore. I do seem to have picked up a small tea habit and am not to the point where I can drink it without some kind of sweetener, but a teaspoon of raw honey is far preferable to that chemical crap. Thanks!
Cheryl- AWESOME WORK! So glad to hear it. I’d rather you drink tea with a little honey than artificial sweeteners any day. Maybe try using 1/2 a tsp at at time even – using a smaller spoon usually helps!
I couldn’t agree more.
However, I would see the bigger issue being that:
-Stevia is grown in China
-China may not have the same standards of labor we do (i.e. child labor, long hours, human rights issues)
-Stevia is almost definitely not grown organically for this product (my assumption based on the fact that it is made by Cargill). This means that thousands of pounds of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are sprayed onto Chinese land for the sake of our American “fat butts” not to mention the soil degradation in the wake of overpopulation.
Just saying. Stevia is definitely not our savior.
Ada
I really appreciate free, succinct, rielalbe data like this.
Great blog post. Stevia gives me a feeling in my stomach like a stabbing knife pain. I have to be careful to label read because they put it in all kinds of stuff these days, even teas. Caveat Emptor!
@ Robin, I hear you! Headaches! Artificial sweeteners give me headaches. All of them. Even Stevia. Feels like someone is scraping my left eye socket with a railroad spike (you’re welcome).
All that deliberate verbal association of noncaloric sweeteners with weight gain, portraying the former as causing the latter, is pure B.S. They say “noncaloric sweeteners are associated with weight gain” but all they really mean is they’re more likely to see fat people drinking diet soda. Yes, and gee, why in the world would that be? I can’t imagine. Let me think.
They have yet to prove causation and I drink coffee with Splenda nearly every morning and my weight’s going down.
Mind you, I know the Splenda is not *causing* the weight loss. I use it because I like sweet coffee and sugar makes me sick. And one of these days I will get to the point that I don’t want the coffee anymore. There was a lot that went wrong with my body in the process of gaining weight and I have been through enough hell without going off caffeine cold turkey, and coffee was something that let me mostly quit the soda. (I still have it very occasionally for a treat, but it is not kept in the house.) That’s momentous for me. I had a wicked full-sugar soda addiction for most of my adult life. Even when I quit the sugar I kept on with the diet for a while. I’m glad that monkey’s off my back. I’ll do what I need to do to keep it off until I can do better.
I believe one thing we need to keep in mind with this whole healthy-eating mess is that we need to avoid *displacing* the stuff we actually need in our diet. Even Weston Price referred to industrial foods as “the displacing foods of modern commerce.” The point is that they *displace.* Eaten once in a while as a treat, they probably won’t do anything. Eaten *instead* of the foods you need to keep your body healthy? Then you have a problem.
Not that we really need to worry about sugar being displaced. There’s no dietary need for it in the first place…
p.s. Truvia’s about the only form of processed stevia I can stand. I even tried Stevia In The Raw and it’s gross. If I want licorice flavor I’ll go drink the tea or eat the candy. (I like those OK.) So that’s why I’m still using Splenda, though I could be a *lot* worse about it.
Healthy-eating mess?
I like stevia well enough although since starting the Whole30 I’ve realized I don’t really need it or miss it. I use the liquid which claims to be processed only with cool water, that’s it. I think it’s good for people who want a sweet taste occasionally (like in a Stevia Bali Dark raw chocolate bar!) but avoid sugar/carb consumption for so many reasons. I don’t think the sweet taste of stevia necessarily prompts weight gain like pounding aspartame does! or the brain tumors for that matter…
Hi,
Love your site and all your great info! Appreciate your perspective and knowledge. In terms of sweeteners that you mention, fruit being one of the natural forms, wondering what your thoughts are on why those people who eat loads of fruit (like fruitarians) are generally very thin with little body fat. If sugar stores as fat, would not these people be very large.
Thanks!
warmly,
John
your review is idiotic.
I can’t believe it’s taken over a year for anyone to mention this, but, erm… “artificiality” has been a word since at least the 18th century. A quick Google search or flip through a physical dictionary (both of which I just did out of the confusion that your claim caused) would tell you that, so I’m confused as to why you just assume that a word you’ve never heard before is a fake one. Don’t get me wrong – I love your work (and agree for the most part with your post, including that the jingle is annoyingly catchy) but it really irks me that you made an outright claim without, evidently, looking it up.
I don’t get why you’re giving stevia such a hard time. It is natural. It is sweet. It isn’t sugar.
You ask,”When, in nature, would you EVER find something sweet that is devoid of calories? You wouldn’t. Duh! And why would you WANT to? Sweet food indicates calories which indicates an energy source.”
Stevia is sweet and while not devoid of calories, super low in calories (not that I’m counting calories. I eat a high fat diet). I have tasted the little green plant myself. The fresh leaf tastes like green apples.
In the food industry, there are many foods that we choose to eat and have altered in the process. Like- not in the sense of processing or refining them, but simply in an agricultural sense. For whatever reason, we select certain foods and stick to these (ie cilantro, potatoes, strawberries, whatever).
The article bounces around between sugar and sweet taste and chemicals.
Do you really want to tell us that you don’t buy that something so sweet is actually safe? You mention the role of hormones– has it been shown that these hormones are the result of sweet taste? Or are they released / receptors turned on in the presence of glucose? Or fructose or any other sugar?? From what I know, all these sweets set off their own semi-unqiue hormonal cascade.
Thanks!!
I don’t have a problem with stevia, the green plant… I have a problem with TRUVIA, which is white. It’s not the same thing.
And yes, the sweet taste triggers a hormonal response, not just a sweet taste that is followed by calories. Read the study that is linked within the post.
Good points!
For years and years, manufacturers were not allowed to use stevia as a sugar replacement…until Cargill came along, morphed it into Truvia and “convinced” the FDA that stevia/truvia was safe for mainstream use.
If I was a cynical person, this would tick me off
Truvia is not just a cute name for processed stevia, it is a combination of stevia and a sugar alcohol, erythritol, which seems to be better than many of the other sugar alcohols used as sweeteners.
Not everyone who buys it has even heard the jingle, so would be using other criteria to decide it if fits into their way of eating. Aside from the jingle, not sure why this particular product has drawn your ire. Stevia has been on the grocery shelf in its white powder form for over 15 years that I’m aware of.
Mari, thanks for posting that. Artificiality is indeed a word. That error nearly threw me off the article. Glad I stuck with it, because I do think the rest was good.
just another senseless trendy attack on artificial sweeteners with no distinguishment between an “extract” and “artificial”. For some people that read these articles their worries are far beyond “making your butt fat” but rather other medical ailments that have left them on a pursuit for healthy artificial sweeteners that come without the baggage of GMO’s and cancer causing carcinogens and those which do not feed candidiasis. The fact is that the FDA is late in the game and have only approved stevia in 2008 while other countries like japan have been using stevia since 1970.
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Your argument against Truvia lacks anything other than your own personal opinions. You fall far short of proving anything other than that you object to ingesting anything white because it can’t be natural. That is hardly proof of anything other than your own faulty thinking. Are there any scientifically valid reasons you don’t care for Truvia? Can you back them up with published papers that directly reflect your statements? With out this, you have failed to offer a valid critique.
I wrote an article on Stevia https://www.thenutritionalsource.com/nutrition/truth-about-stevia-sugar-and-facts-based-on-research/ there are health benefits over sugar. Everything we eat needs to be in moderation.