The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) is reporting this morning that Coca-Cola and Cargill are working on a new sweetener, code-named rebiana. Rebiana is calorie-free and natural. The sweetener is derived from stevia, which is a South American herb.

Coke plans to use rebiana in beverages and Cargill intends to market it for use in products such as yogurt and ice cream. Table top use is also a possibility.

NetSweat.com Comments: We suggest reading the full Wall Street Journal article (a subscription is required for the WSJ's web site, but the article might be available in the print version of today's paper). It is unclear has to how safe stevia is, primarily because there just is not enough data. There are some suggestions that stevia may cause medical problems, including potential male infertility, but nothing is conclusive. The FDA has previously rejected use of stevia as a food additive, according to the Journal.

Keep in mind that with both new food additives and medicines, it can take a few years before the full safety is known. Although testing is required by the FDA, real world use and the large sample size can reveal different findings than testing shows.