Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've always heard that Stevia has been used for hundreds of years with no ill side effects, so I was very interested to try it... especially when I started making my own yogurt, and would do anything to get my toddler to eat it! I did some research and found that the SweetLeaf brand was supposed to be the best, as far as extraction methods and experience. I got a bottle of the Vanilla Creme, and also the plain, and added it to our yogurt. It was fantastic! We all loved it, and the toddler begged for more. I was so relieved to have found a great way to reduce the sugar in our diets and still have such a great sweet taste. It was perfect, I was happy. But then, strange symptoms started to surface. At first I got headaches, which became increasingly severe, and then backaches that felt like spinal 'brain freeze' (when you eat something too cold too fast.) It didn't occur to me at first that it could be at all related to the new Stevia. Then my toddler started telling me he was itchy all over. Then I got my menstrual cycle 2 weeks early. Finally it dawned on me that it could be related to the Stevia since this was the only thing at all that had changed in our diets. I googled 'adverse reactions to Stevia' and found several webpages where people described symptoms identical to mine. I was truly shocked. I stopped the Stevia... all the symptoms went away almost immediately. I realize now that there is a difference between the flavored liquid Stevia, which contains a 'proprietary blend' and 'natural flavors' (which could mean anything) and just the straight powder with nothing added (I haven't tried that, but won't now.) It also occurs to me that maybe the only Stevia that can truly be considered historically safe is the actual leaf itself, straight off the plant out of the garden. I still believe Stevia's safety record in the countries where it originated, but I think something has probably been lost in translation with the processing of it here in the US. Just my opinion. It should also be noted that anyone with allergies to ragweed should not take Stevia because it can cause asthma attacks. Hope this helps someone.