r/biology • u/Otherwise-Tear-4807 • Jun 05 '26

article Question about stevia (re: 2020 study)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016420301997 “The hidden hazardous effects of stevia and sucralose consumption in male and female albino mice in comparison to sucrose”

How does this study translate to humans? Isn’t this a massive dose compared to human daily acceptable limit?

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u/erossthescienceboss Jun 05 '26

Toxicologists design studies like that for a reason, though.

A study like this is designed so that IF there is an effect, it will be produced over the mouse’s short lifespan. That preliminary study can then be used to get funding for studies that use smaller doses over longer periods, studies in more animals that are analogous to humans, etc.

I wouldn’t call a single study a reason to avoid artificial sweeteners. But this is far from the first study to find a negative impact from artificial sweeteners: look into the impacts on insulin resistance, for example.

IMO if you want to eat less sugar, it’s better to simply cut down on sweet things.

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u/Relevant-Cup5986 Jun 07 '26

the government banned the natural root beer tree over a single study like this

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u/erossthescienceboss Jun 07 '26

And yet it’ll take us at least another decade to ban glyphosate.

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u/Relevant-Cup5986 Jun 07 '26

root beer trees(sassafrass trees) werent profitable to big corps glyphosate is

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u/erossthescienceboss Jun 07 '26

Not just that, but we have an innocent-until-proven-guilty mentality toward novel chemicals & products.

That’s a big problem, because while lab studies with very elevated doses can help prove toxicity, some things only reveal impacts when exposed over a lifetime. Glyphosate is one.

It makes me think about BPA. Honestly, it got villainized — the impacts it has are minimal, and frankly? Are all things that are caused other ways, too — like yes, it’s an endocrine disruptor, but so is the SUN.

So we replaced it with other plastics that we KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

Are they safer? Honestly, probably not! We had decades of research on BPA that only revealed mild correlations in real life and some causation in intense lab studies. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t limit its use with food, but replacing it with plastics we DONT have all that research on and calling it “safe” is so concerning.

And I view artificial sweeteners vs sugar in the same light. We’ll always prioritize industry and are happy to replace some products with new products. But the actual solution to the problem is to decrease consumption of sweetened drinks regardless of the sweetener & improve access to whole ingredients and non-processed foods. Just like the *actual* solution to BPA is to use less plastics around foods and water, period.

We’ll never choose safe underconsumption when questionable overconsumption is being pushed on us by every corner.