Pink, Blue, Yellow, White and...

If you look at the history of the obesity epidemic in the United States you can trace the almost the entire thing back to one plant; corn.

It was the introduction of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener that helped spur the massive increase in obesity in this country. It seems our bodies metabolize the syrup in a different manner than we metabolize sugar. As a result, the more we replace sugar with high fructose corn syrup the more chance we have of getting fat.

Today, however, in an announcement that is sure to shake up the processed food world, Cargill and Coca-Cola announced they were working together to begin sweetening Coca-Cola products with a new sweetener. The new sweetener is called "rebina" and is a derivative of the stevia plant. It is reportedly 100 times more sweet than sugar. Cargill is also working on a new table top version of the rebina to compete with Equal, Nutrasweet, Splenda and natural sugar. I wonder what color Cargill will choose.

I haven't heard if anyone knows the impact of rebina on our bodies. According to Coke, Stevia isn't approved in the U.S. for use in food and beverages, but is approved in 12 other countries, including Brazil, Japan and China. Cargill is currently conducting clinical trials in an effort to get FDA approval to use the plant here.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that more tests need to be done before Stevia is approved by FDA. While there is no evidence that the plant causes ill effects in humans, CSPI says there are warning signs that need to be investigated.