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Comment by winter_blue | Hacker News Reader

Just as an FYI, I found a company recently that makes chocolate with zeor sugar, that's sweetened with Stevia: https://www.cocopolo.com/

I didn't like their dark chocolate, but their milk chocolate comes pretty close to regular milk chocolate.

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What is this current obsession with stevia? It has a very strong, pretty much unpalatable taste that even strong espresso can't mask.

It's natural, as opposed to unnatural things like sucralose and aspartame.

In the current zeitgeist, 'natural' is assumed to be better.

All natural, like arsenic, botulinum toxin, elephant seal blubber, corpse ichor and dying in child birth...

Since "eat less" for weight control is too hard, we are on constant search for stuff we can stuff ourselves with with minimum weight gain.

There seems to be a genetic component to how we perceive the taste of some of these artificial sweeteners [1]. Personally, I also think stevia is gross -- bitter and metallic aftertaste.

The best AS for me is sucralose (Splenda). I can't tell it apart from sugar. I've also never seen any results about it that would concern me, and it's been studied more than almost anything else we eat.

[1] http://news.psu.edu/story/284556/2013/08/20/research/multipl...

It may also be a matter of getting used to it.

Oddly enough, after so many years, I don't like the taste of sugar any more, it seems 'off'. Aspartame is fine.

Are you conserved with sugar per se, or the insulin response? Cocoa causes insulin spike even when sugar-free, iirc.

Yup, I am concerned about the insulin response / glycemic index. Hmm...

Found it on https://www.researchgate.net

"Holt SHA, Brand Miller JC, Petocz P. An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by 1000-kJ portions of common foods. Am J Clin Nutr 66, 1264-1276"

I highly recommend it as a source for glycemic response of different foods; some things are entirely counterintuitive.

Are you on low sugar/flour/starch diet?

I am not on a low sugar/flour/starch diet right now, but I'm trying to switch to one. I have a family history of diabetes. I've mostly cut out sugar. But cutting out flour/starch has been a bit harder.

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