Hmm. Apparently people don't know what "artifical sweetener" means.
I just saw someone claiming "[product] doesn't have artificial sweeteners, it uses stevia"
Stevia is kind of... the artificial sweetener.
I suspect the confusion is because stevia comes from a plant, so it must be a natural sweetener right? Comes from a natural source and makes things sweeter?
The problem is "natural" vs "artificial" doesn't refer to the origin of the substance, it refers to the flavor itself. "Sweet" as a flavor evolved to let us know that we are eating something rich in carbs to give us energy. So "natural" here means that the sweetness is from something that will provide those carbs that our body associates sweetness with. If it doesn't provide carbs but does taste sweet, that's not what sweetness is "supposed" to be, and so it's not a "real" sweetness. It's artificial.
