Stevia is everywhere. Walk into any supplement store, scan the back of most electrolyte powders, protein shakes or zero-calorie drinks, and there it is. It's marketed as the clean, natural alternative to sugar. A guilt-free way to make something taste good.
Most brands use it without a second thought. We chose not to. Here's why.
What Is Stevia, Actually?
Stevia is a sweetener derived from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant. The sweet compounds, called steviol glycosides are extracted, purified and used in food and beverage products. It contains zero calories, zero sugar and doesn't spike blood glucose. On paper, it sounds ideal.
The reality is more complicated.
What ends up in your electrolyte powder is rarely a simple leaf extract. It's a heavily processed compound, refined through chemical and enzymatic processes to isolate specific glycosides like Rebaudioside A. The further it gets from the plant, the harder it becomes to call it truly natural.
The Concerns Backed by Research
We want to be clear: stevia is not classified as dangerous. Regulatory bodies including the FDA, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the World Health Organization have reviewed it and found no evidence of toxicity or cancer risk at standard doses.
But "not classified as dangerous" is a low bar for something you're drinking every day. The emerging research raises questions worth paying attention to.
1. Potential Gut Disruption
A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Molecules by researchers at Ben-Gurion University found that stevia may disrupt communication pathways between different bacteria in the gut microbiome. The researchers did not find that stevia killed off bacteria outright, but interfering with how bacteria communicate, a process called quorum sensing this can still lead to microbial imbalance.
The lead researcher's conclusion: "This is an initial study that indicates that more research is warranted before the food industry replaces sugar and artificial sweeteners with stevia and its extracts."
A 2025 study published in Frontiers in Nutrition went further, finding that stevia consumption in mice produced changes in gut bacteria and gene activity that were detectable in subsequent generations. The research flagged gut microbiome disruption and epigenetic changes as the key mechanisms of concern.
2. Hormone Signalling Questions
Steviol glycosides have a steroidal molecular structure, meaning they share chemical similarities with hormones in the body. A 2016 study published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology investigated the endocrine-disrupting potential of stevioside, rebaudioside A and their metabolite steviol. The findings raised concerns about interference with hormone receptor pathways, including progesterone production.
Separately, animal research has shown that stevia treatment led to a general decrease in plasma testosterone levels, believed to be a result of steviol glycosides binding to androgen receptors.
These are not definitive human studies. But they are peer-reviewed, published findings that warrant caution. Particularly for anyone focused on hormonal health, fertility or performance.
3. Digestive Discomfort
Steviosides; the compounds responsible for stevia's sweetness have been reported to cause nausea, bloating and digestive discomfort in some people. Medical News Today lists nausea and bloating among stevia's documented possible side effects. For an electrolyte powder you're mixing into water before or after training, gut discomfort is the last thing you want.
4. What's Actually in Your Stevia Product
This is where it gets important. Many products labelled as "stevia sweetened" contain erythritol, a sugar alcohol added as a bulking agent. A 2023 study published in Nature Medicine found that people with the highest levels of erythritol in their blood were twice as likely to experience a heart attack or stroke. The lead author, Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, described the degree of risk as "not modest."
The study has been debated and the authors acknowledged that participants already had elevated cardiovascular risk. But it was peer-reviewed, published in one of the world's leading medical journals, and it raised a legitimate flag about an ingredient that most people consuming stevia products don't even know is there.
Check the ingredient list of your electrolyte powder. If it says stevia, look harder. Erythritol is often right beside it.
The Long-Term Gap
Stevia only entered widespread commercial use in the last 15 years. A 2017 review concluded that not enough long-term studies had been done to make a definitive judgment about its overall safety. That gap still exists. We know stevia is unlikely to cause acute harm. We don't yet know what daily consumption over years looks like.
For something you're drinking once or twice a day as part of a performance nutrition routine, that uncertainty matters.
Why We Use Monk Fruit Instead
Every Sunday Salt blend is sweetened with monk fruit. It's a different compound entirely, mogroside V, extracted from a fruit that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. It carries none of the hormone-disrupting concerns associated with stevia's steroidal structure. It doesn't require erythritol as a bulking agent. And it doesn't leave the bitter aftertaste that stevia is known for at higher concentrations.
Most brands use stevia because it's cheap and it works well enough. We chose monk fruit because we're building something you drink every day, and every daily habit deserves ingredients you can actually stand behind.
The Bottom Line
Stevia is not poison. The regulatory consensus is that it's safe at standard doses. But the emerging research raises enough questions around gut health, hormone signalling and what else comes along with it that we didn't feel comfortable making it a core ingredient in a product designed for daily use.
Clean ingredients means more than zero sugar and zero calories. It means knowing exactly what's in the product, why it's there, and being comfortable with the answer.
That's the standard we hold Sunday Salt to.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The studies referenced are cited for educational purposes. Consult a healthcare professional before making changes to your supplementation routine.
