If you want to use a natural 0-Calorie high-intensity sweetener, you may want to consider stevia or Truvia as opposed to artificial high-intensity sweeteners, such as Aspartame (NutraSweet) or Saccharine (Sweet-n-Low).
But then what is stevia and what is Truvia? How do these two compare?
Stevia is the common name for high-intensity sweetening compounds, extracted from the plant Stevia Rebaudiana. The common name for these compounds is Steviol glycoside.
Steviol glycoside includes two major compounds with high sweetening power – Steviosides and Rebaudiside A (or reb-A for short). What is their sweetening power? about 250-300 times as sweet as table sugar gram-for-gram.
Steviosides are sold usually as a supplement under a common name, like Stevia Extract (or just Stevia). Steviosides are standardized to about 90 percent. You can find these in liquid (drops) and powder form in health food stores.
Rebaudioside A, also known under the name Rebiana, is a more pure and less bitter sweetening compound from the stevia leaf. It is usually standardized to 95-97 percent. As opposed to steviosides (which have to be labeled “supplements”), reb-A was approved as a food additive by the FDA in 2008, and can be used in commercial cooking, baking and for sweetening of beverages.
Ok. Now we know that both steviosides and reb-A come from the stevia plant and are the two main sweeteners (Steviol glycoside) in stevia. We also know that stevia is the common name for all sweeteners that contain predominalty steviosides as opposed to predominantly the reb-A fraction of Steviol glycoside.
But, what is Truvia?
Truvia is actually reb-A (or Rebiana), mixed with another non-caloric low-intensity sweetener erythritol, and natural flavors (my guess is vanilla-based flavors to mask any remaining bitterness). Truvia was developed by Cargill and the Coca-Cola company and is sold in grocery stores almost everywhere in the US.
I’ve personally used erythritol and Rebiana in baking (when I make my protein muffins, chocolate bars, etc. – I used to have a specialty bakery) and continue to use them today – I make my own mixture of both. I also use the Stevia Extract drops to sweeten my tea and sometimes in baking, as well. I like both types of sweeteners.
But, ultimately, which is better – stevia (or standardized steviosides from the Stevia plant) or Tuvia (0r standardized rebaudioside A, erythritol and natural flavors)?
I’d say that Truvia is better because it is somewhat less bitter than stevia extracts. It is also well balanced by the addition of erythritol, which serves as a filler, since it is only about 70 percent as sweet as table sugar (as opposed to Rebiana – about 300 percent sweeter).
Moreover, on its own reb-A still has a detectable bitter aftertaste. Erythritol on its own has a mouth-cooling effect. For some reason reb-A mitigates this effect, thus providing a nice balance and erythritol diminishes the eventual bitterness of reb-A, making for a nice combination.
Finally, pure reb-A is still not commercially available – it costs around $200-300/kg. So, the easiest way to get your hands on some reb-A is by buying it from the store in the form of commercially developed Truvia.
If your palate is not too picky, you may find Stevia extracts quite comparable to Truvia.
Let me know what your experience is with any of these two.