Lemondrop

Come on, researchers -- enough already with hating on our favorite sweeteners! Scientists at the University of Florida College of Medicine just found that fructose can lead to leptin resistance, which correlates to weight gain and obesity. Rats on high-fructose diets eventually stopped responding to leptin, a hormone that helps the body burn calories.

The culprits this research is talking about -- table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup -- are generally found in syrup, frozen foods, canned soup and fruit-flavored drinks (aka, everything we ate on a regular basis in college). Meaning, you don't have to freak out about naturally occurring fructose in fruits like grapes or apples.

Click here to read more news about artificial sweeteners and a new natural option


Other Sweeteners That Have Been Shot Down
This news is the latest in a long line of artificial-sweetener options being burned by science. As we talked about earlier this month, Splenda may lead to obesity and digestion issues. NutraSweet and Equal (aspartame) have been controversial since their introduction, with studies linking aspartame to cancer, neurological and behavioral disorders and reports of headaches, insomnia and even seizures. And, while cancer warning labels were removed from Sweet 'N Low (saccharin) in 2000, doubt still remains about the cancer correlation. Sigh.

The Next Miracle Sweetener?
Like clockwork, there's a new miracle alternative poised to take the mass market by storm: Stevia. This one's a little different, though -- stevia, found in South and Central America, is a totally natural herb. It's 300 times more potent than sugar, is already widely used in Latin America, Asia and Canada, and has been marketed as a "dietary supplement" in the US since 1995.

Many Americans already use stevia as a sweetener (it's available on many health Web sites), and the FDA is soon expected to approve its use as a food additive. Once the approval is official, Pepsi and Coca-Cola plan to debut their own brands of stevia sweeteners, Truvia and Purevia.

Concerns About Stevia
In the great sweetener tradition, there are also questions surrounding stevia's safety -- it's banned in the EU due to concerns about mutagens and toxicity. Studies showing those correlations have been widely criticized on procedural grounds, though, and more recent studies appear to establish stevia's safety. Proponents also point to years of stevia usage in South America and Japan with no visible effect.

Tell us: What kind of sweetener do you use, if any? Do you think stevia is the next great sugar alternative, or does it seem just as suspicious as any other sweetener?