Stevia as insulin sensitizer?

[KeikosHuman]

Hi,
Is anyone using Stevia? I came across info saying this is an insulin sensitizer used for a long time in Japan for diabetes. ' ...Diabetic rats given stevioside required less exogenous insulin for the same effect. Taken together, these results suggest that stevia may not just be a good sugar substitute for diabetics, but an effective supplement for treatment of their insulin resistance.'

Here's an article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16278783

Stevia is a sweetener but its glycemic index is 0.

M & K

 

[KittyMom777]

I wouldn't use anything like that on my cat personally. You don't know what else is in there that might be toxic to cats.

Juliet and Silver

 

[BJM]

I second what Juliet said.

I did a search on PubMed for "stevia AND cat" and didn't find any results.

I then tried "stevia AND feline" and didn't find anything that way either.

Next, I tried a Google search for "stevia +cat" I didn't find that particular combo, though I found a site for essential oils that discussed their effects on cats here.

When I did a Google search fro "stevia +feline", this site mentions a pet toothpaste that includes stevia here. This suggests that nominal, oral application might be safe .. but does not show that oral ingestion would be safe.