Stevia

I am pretty sure that we all knew this but.....

by. Dr. Bill Rawls
Posted 3/09/17

You’ve probably heard of stevia. It’s the natural, non-caloric sweetener that’s 40 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia doesn’t contribute to calories because the chemical compounds in stevia, called steviol glycosides, are not absorbed through the intestines in appreciable amounts. This makes stevia an ideal sugar alternative.

Stevia sweetener comes from the plant, Stevia rebaudiana, which grows naturally in South America. People there have been using stevia to sweeten their yerba mate and tea for hundreds of years. You can find stevia extracts at any grocery. You can also find stevia plants at some garden centers and grow it in your garden; the leaves are very sweet if chewed.

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about stevia being beneficial for treating Lyme disease. This comes from an in vitro study published in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology in November of 2015. The study found that whole leaf stevia extract effectively kills Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes and cyst forms.

Ever since the study came out, there has been widespread talk on the web about using stevia to treat Lyme disease. One company, founded by a Lyme expert, has even been promoting a stevia product specifically for treating Lyme disease.

Unfortunately, the reasoning is highly flawed.

The operative word here is, “in vitro”. In vitro means that the test was conducted in the lab. When placed in a test tube, whole leaf stevia extract inhibits growth of live Borrelia spirochetes and cysts.

This does not mean that it kills Borrelia in living organisms. To treat Lyme disease, the chemical compounds present in stevia must be absorbed through the intestines — but the reason it works so well as a sweetener is because these substances are not absorbed through the intestines. This fact has been well documented by numerous scientific studies.

Therefore stevia extract wouldn’t be expected to provide any significant systemic antimicrobial activity against Borrelia or any other microbes associated with Lyme disease.

The only way it might work is if it was injected intravenously. But this would be a really bad idea, because humans (and other mammals) do not have enzymes to break down stevia compounds. The compounds would build up in tissues with disastrous results.

Stevia is a great alternative for cutting calories, but you shouldn’t depend on it for treating Lyme disease.

LOL! Never mind! I signed up for the Dr. Rawls newsletters and all I had to do was look at my email!! Thanks for posting this!

Here's a link to the article: /goo.gl/QYQM2e

What's more discouraging is that my well-known llmd actually put stevia in my protocol. Losing faith. I like Dr. Rawls way of thinking. He also has this article in his newsletter about TGen's new test: /rawlsmd.com/health-articles/new-lymeseq-test-for-lyme?utm_campaign=mar+11+2017+rawlsmd+newsletter%3A+stevia+%28JeeUPD%29&utm_medium=email&_ke=a2VsbHl5b3N0QG1zbi5jb20%3D&utm_source=master+rawlsmd+segment+-+%5Blive+-+2-26-17%5D

I 100% agree with him in regards to better testing will show that most people actually have borrelia, etc. It's a breakdown in immune function as to why we get sick. And also why most get sick after stressful event.

i feel that saying it does not work is based on the same logic that drives people saying that it works. I mean we simply don't know if it works or not and we should accept our ignorance. Yes in vitro it seems it's doing something to the lyme bacteria. That does not mean much, but it's a start. Put it this way, even if it helps with the biofilms and lyme bacteria in the gut, and it would still be of a huge help to lyme sufferers, with minimal side effects since stevia is quite harmless as sweetener. So even if it does not get absorbed through the intestines, it could be beneficial in some way. But even so, the active compound in stevia could have become inactivated by the stomach acid or pancreatic enzymes and maybe does it not even help the gut ...We simply DON'T KNOW....

And given the general lack of research in this field, i would not blame the poor LLMDs for trying EVERYTHING to help their patients, especially if some of those things are harmless sweeteners that at a minimal would make the tea of the lyme patients sweet again... Trying a compound that has no known side effects but it shows some activity in vitro, is not something nuts or irresponsible ... There are far more riskier treatments tried by some others...

I am sorry to say but simply giving a person a few years of just one antibiotic, like doxy (i've heard a few cases), when it's clear from studies and also real life experience, that if you are chronic.... ONE tetracycline antibiotic will certainly not cure you, so prescribing that to a patient is to me MUCH more irresponsible than prescribing stevia, simply because one year of doxy alone will certainly not cure your chronic lyme, but it could give you C.diff and consequently a 3-5% chance of death ....

Post Edited (mpost) : 3/11/2017 2:16:09 PM (GMT-7)

I tried it for awhile and never noticed anything. I do like it as a sugar substitute.

My only point is that we should never rely on stevia alone as a treatment for these infections. While it MAY still be helpful, the truth is that at this point in time, there is no evidence to back it up since it only worked in the lab, and not so much for those that are actually using it. We need more clinical trials and those aren't likely to come along too fast.

Side note: I have used stevia for many years (20) and have never seen any benefits as far as helping with symptoms/treatment.

This made me think of a program I watched on tv last year that went into the idea of nature providing the 'cure' or anecdote for whatever toxin or poison was in that particular area.

I have no idea how true that is, and of course 'nature' would have to be left in fairly large and pristine condition to do so, but I was in love with the idea of searching out teasel(root) on my property to turn into tincture.
Which I never was able to embark on.

LOL! I'm the same way, so I definitely understand!!