FDA OKs Stevia

It's hard to know whether Coca-Cola's decision this week to roll out products made with a natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant was based on some inside knowledge that the Food and Drug Administration was about to approve stevia or whether the FDA was prompted by Coke's action.

Either way, the FDA's decision means that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and others are about to unleash a lot of products sweetened with the substance, which is derived from a South American plant and which has been used in other countries for decades and in some cases, centuries. Pepsico had been holding off until the FDA issued a decision. Now the company says it will have at least one product in stores in as little as a week sweetened with PureVia, the version made by Merisant, which also makes the artificial sweetener Equal.

Stevia could upend the sweeteners market. Or it could not. Much depends on whether the stuff can be engineered to taste good with a lot of different products. So far, for instance, nobody has been able to make cola drinks taste the same with it as with sugar or the artificial sweeteners used in diet versions. It works best with citrus-flavored drinks. Also, stevia is about three times as expensive as other artificial sweeteners. Its selling point is that, unlike its rivals, stevia is "all natural."

For Merisant, "this is very big," its CEO, Paul Block, told the Chicago Tribune. The company had been losing market share for Equal as people increasingly turn to that product's newer rival, Splenda.

Another winner is the agribusiness giant Cargill, which makes Truvia, the version of stevia used by Coke. Cargill has been selling Truvia as a table sweetener for months. But with the FDA approval, both Truvia and PureVia will soon be ubiquitous. Like Pepsico, many big grocers, including Wal-Mart, had been holding off until the agency reached a decision.

The FDA has accepted studies sponsored by industry showing that stevia is safe. Some other studies have indicated, though far from conclusively, that it could cause cancer.