Stevia is 250-300 times sweeter than table sugar and has a slight licorice-like after taste. Stevia does not raise blood sugar levels or effect diabetics. The story of stevia's use in America is political
because it is a challenge to the very profitable artifiical sugar industry. In other countries Stevia and xylitol are used in food products, due to the politics of big business controlling artificial sweetners (and everything else) what is best for the consumer is not always what is available. Mercola has numerous aritcles about the politics of artificial sweetners, Why Nutrasweet was so Successful and Will Likely Never be Replaced by Splenda.
For information about Stevia see the Stevia entry on Wikipedia
History and politics of stevia can be found here.
