Is stevia safe?

[Googy]

My MW says my kidneys are really overburdened right now. I am spilling a ton of sugar into my urine even though I eat very little sugar and my blood glucose levels are fine. I was hospitalized for a series of very bad kidney infections a few years ago, and my MW thinks that this may have weakened them, and filtering for both me and the baby is too much for them right now.

Anyway, since my baby has no interest in coming anytime soon, I am trying to relieve as much of the burden on my kidneys as I can. I do put a little sugar or honey in my RRL tea and oatmeal and such. Is it safe for me to use stevia instead? Does anyone know anything about this? I will not use any artificial sweeteners (like Equal or Splenda), and can't stomach RRL tea without some sweetener, so stevia is all I can think of. Any advice?

[Mama2 '05'06]

used splenda and yes, I got alot of cyber yelling at me for it! Stevia was recommemded but I've never heard of it before or seen anywhere so I still use splenda.

[Curlita]

I switched to stevia from sugar and aspartame during this pregnancy to give my liver a break, and I've used stevia at various times in the past to avoid artificial sweeteners. I haven't heard anything bad about it, and it is completely natural and plant-based. My go-to source for stuff like this is Andrew Weil, and he gives stevia his stamp of approval. I feel completely comfortable using stevia, whereas I always feel a little uneasy about splenda and pretty uneasy about aspartame. I'm willing to take the risk when it's just me in question, but tried to be more careful while pregnant.

[Jasmyn's Mum]

I've used stevia for years and I haven't heard anything bad about it. ANYTHING is better than an artificial sweetener.

[AKmomof2+1inNov]

I use it too and haven't found anything bad about it either-it's just not as good in some things, but oatmeal I don't even notice the difference. Have you thought about taking the RRL in capsules instead? I got to the point I just couldn't drink anymore no matter what I mixed in with.

You can get stevia for a good price on vitacost.com btw...

[FillingMyQuiver]

There is some research that suggests Stevia may cause fertility issues in people who use it in large doses over a long period of time. If you google Stevia and infertility, you'll find some info. But if I remember correctly, it's A LOT of Stevia daily.

Other than that, I haven't found anything else negative about it. You can go to the Traditional Foods board, too and do a search on it, there's some info there.