[Hermes the Thrice Great]

Truvia is a sweetener owned by Coca Cola and Cargill and is marketed as a natural sweetener through its use of Stevia. In a court case however, it was discovered that Truvia's main ingredient by far is Erythritol, a fruit alcohol which is also a natural sweetener. However, Erythritol is found only in small concentrations in fruits like grape and watermelon, so to mass produce it, Cargill uses a fermentation process where the yeast the produces Erythritol is fed GMO corn maltodexterin.

I personally don't care about GMO use, though I found all of this deception rather interesting. What I ask you guess are:

1) Coca cola life markets itself using the natural sweetener Stevia to sweeten it and thus be healthier as the name implies. Since Truvia is joint owned by Coca cola, would it be too presumptuous to assume that Coca cola life uses Truvia to sweeten itself, and thus is actually sweetened with Erythritol, and thus is technically a GMO product?

2) Why doesn't Coca cola use stevia instead of erythritol? Is stevia expensive?

3) I found an article that stated that Truvia is unique in that it is a potent insecticide. Assuming that's true, is there any problems with consuming this palatable, potent insecticide. Secondly, is that true or is there a little bit of misleading in the works?

4) Your opinion on GMO and your opinion on sweeteners in general? Again, I personally view them as fine. They also can be beneficial, such as golden rice.

[Enthalpy]

[...] we would have noticed by now [...]

Or not... Tracing the cause of an illness is difficult. We note for instance a decrease of men fertility since decades, but the reason is still debatable. Or think of benzene: it was used for decades as a benign compound until a link was established with leukemia and more.

[JGK]

Stevia is expensive compared to other sweetner produces. There are also isies due to its plant based nature, for example the chemical composition of "Stevia" grown in diffferet locations will differ markedly. I've seen this in samples of Stevia from South America & China.

Personally, I find Stevia has a huge aftertaste issue and until that is sorted out it will not be on my radar.