About two decades ago, we were retained to bring about a change  in Bolivia.  (We actually were working on several interesting projects in Bolivia at the time.  It was right after Jorge Quiroga was elected President.)

One of our projects was to work with the farmers and have them convert their farm crop to Stevia production.  This product is 30 to 150 times as sweet as sugar (yes, it has an aftertaste when present in high concentrations), is heat and pH stable, and has no caloric content.

In other words, it could be perfect to replace the sugar component in so many of our concoctions.  After all, we US citizens are the largest consumers of sugar in the world- to the tune of ¼ cup of added sugar each and every day.

There was a problem with our project, however.  While it was an easy grow and would generate more profits for the farmers than their then current crop, it missed the real issue.

After all, it was not the farmers that set the products they planted.  It was the cocaine cartels.  And, they could care less if the farmers made more money- without them planting cocaine, the cartels would lose money.

You’d be surprised how many projects fail to recognize who are the key stakeholders.  We failed to realize that the farmers might make more money and have stable customers, but they’d be dead if they didn’t satisfy the cartels.  Not much different when you develop a great product that can keep people off dialysis, but the poor folks who need the product aren’t really the customers- it’s the insurance companies or the government that pays the bill that makes the real choice.

Not surprisingly, we found ourselves to be targets as we traveled around Bolivia.  At least our vehicle had bullet proof glass and was armored.

(Here’s the joke on me.  When I got to Bolivia, I noticed how hard it was for me to swing the door open and closed.  My thoughts were “I was warned that the altitude was going to affect me.”   So, I just thought it was the lack of oxygen in my lungs that was making it so difficult for me to open the doors.  Until we went a resort area in the middle of nowhere and I was allowed to roll down the window.  Which was more than 2 inches thick.  Which is when I realized our transportation was an armored vehicle.)

Obviously, the desire of our client to obtain a stable, relatively cheap supply of stevia would have been a coup.  But, it was not to be.

Although stevia was identified after the renaissance, it was not considered acceptable in the US until 2008 (a few years after our exploratory trip to Bolivia); Europe approved its use 3 years later.  The safe level of ingestion is 4 mg/kg (of body weight) or more than 273 mg of stevia a day (assuming a 150 lb adult)- or some 10 packets of stevia a day.

Stevia ingestion doesn’t lead to elevated blood sugar levels nor does it promote cavity formation-  but the key plus- it does not induce folks to eat more or seek out more sugar.  You should also know that Truvia is not pure Stevia.  It has erythritol (a sugar alcohol) added to provide bulk and make the texture of the product (and its appearance) more ‘sugar-like’.

Which means using stevia in pop is less harmful that choosing to drink pop sweetened with sugar- or aspartame- which is fraught with problems.

Then, again, as I reported a while ago- both diet and sugared pop have associated health problems.