Good Food
Agave: Sticky facts about the natural sweetener
Agave syrup has been touted as a miracle sweetener, one you can use worry-free thanks to its status as a low-glycemic food. But now a debate is brewing over just how healthy the sweetener is, in part because of what nets its low-glycemic ranking: its high fructose content.
Agave syrups can have a fructose content of 90 percent. (Refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup are half fructose and half sucrose.)
And according to some in the wellness community, like Sugar Shock! author Connie Bennett, agave fructose is highly refined. “This makes agave worse than high fructose corn syrup,” says Bennett.
But agave producers and many natural food companies using the sweetener disagree. “You don’t need to add any chemicals to make agave. And you do with high-fructose corn syrup,” says Gnosis Chocolate’s Vanessa Barg, who’s observed agave’s production first-hand and likens it to the dehydration process used to create raw bread.
Sadly, agave is still a spoonful of sugar
Many advocates of agave like the fact that the body metabolizes it (and fructose, in general) more slowly than other sugars, so it doesn’t produce the same spikes in blood-sugar levels. However, a 2009 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism linked high consumption of fructose-sweetened drinks to increased triglyceride levels.
This can translate to weight gain or, in those with high cholesterol levels, a risk of heart disease, says wellness expert Latham Thomas. “The body does not like sugar broken down to that degree,” says Thomas. But Barg, who is also a certified holistic health counselor, says she’s never seen someone gain weight from switching from refined sugar to agave.
But for concerned customers, Barg uses low-glycemic palm nectar in some of her chocolates. She and Thomas both cite stevia as another option, while Thomas favors maple syrup. And palm sugar is emerging on the wholesome shelves at Organic Avenue as an agave alternative.
Bottom line: No matter your choice of sweeteners, it’s good to remember they’re all still sugar. —Nina Pearlman
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We do have to watch out for agave. We “forget” that all sweeteners are still sweeteners, low glycemic or not – we are still adding a sweetener. The problem with agave is that it belongs in the fructose family and that makes it a sweetener we gain more weight from than glucose.
It is the same old problem as with all food information and health. We get the information and judge a product by its cover, but don’t understand how our bodies use it up.
jeanette bronee, nourishment counselor, path for life
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mroker, Well + Good. Well + Good said: Agave: Sticky facts about the natural sweetener, http://ow.ly/3HOFu [...]
I find this whole obsession with sugars and fats to be quite sad. In the United States, we seem to have a huge cultural problem with food, trying to find replacements for the fatty sugary food habit that most of us developed since our childhood. We’re finding healthy alternatives that we honestly see as a bit painful but try to see as positive, because we’re trying to become more healthy, beautiful, natural, organic and/or green.
Fructose is naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables. If we want to avoid it so much we should stop eating fruits and vegetables altogether, but that would be ridiculous, because fructose is a natural and healthy source of energy. The problem is that we’re adding more fructose in the form of honey or agave to our fruits and vegetables when we make things like smoothies, and then gulping them down because we think it’s healthier than soda pop.
So, I guess making the transition is harder for us, but if we want to make a healthy change for the family, we can start by making sure that our children’s sensitive taste buds don’t get overloaded with sugar and become dull to the delicate sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness of fruits and vegetables.
[...] Nectar Ain’t All Sweetness and Light – The natural sweetener has been touted as a healthier alternative to processed sugar cane, but many say agave’s just [...]
Unfortunately, I’ve found that agave gives me a bad post-nasal drip, on a par with milk.
Wow, I’ve never heard that before. It sounds like an allergic response, Joan. Have you tried palm sugar?
There is no holy grail of sweetener. This is my introduction to all my classes. And as I teach dessert classes, albeit organic, vegan ones, it’s saying something. I favor maple, organic whole cane, and using more coconut sugar. But sweets are discretionary. Eat your fruits and veggies, whole grains and nuts, then save room for a small portion of an honest delicious organic vegan dessert – and one that works per your personal dietary consideration is my motto.
[...] Sugar High Turned Low – Some seriously sad facts about the natural sweetener agave. (Well + Good NYC) [...]
Is Thomas serious in mentioning maple syrup as low glycemic? Has she ever seen the GI on that? It’s sky high!
I’m not going to worry about my agave use since it’s pretty minimal. Probably 1 TBS a day on top of my greek yogurt. As with everything, moderation is the key.
At the end of the day, plain table sugar is probably the best bet. I am scientifically unqualified to talk about any potential health effects of high amounts of fructose but I think that we can all agree that normal amounts of regular sugar have yet to hurt anyone. Why try to fix something that ain’t broke?
That’s what annoys me with the “healthy” food movement: people looking for problems where there aren’t any, and coming up with “solutions” which are not necessarily as great as they make them out to be…
[...] to be the best way to get your sugar-fix without a guilty conscience—or a sugar crash.Unlike agave, which is 90 percent fructose, this up-and-coming sweetener—also called coconut palm sugar—contains less than 9 percent of [...]
[...] agave, which is 90 percent fructose, this up-and-coming sweetener—also called coconut palm sugar—contains less than 9 percent of [...]
The very mention of the word “Diet” instills a dread in many of us.
However, in nutrition “Diet” is the sum of food consumed by a person while Dietary habits are the decisions an individual makes when choosing what foods to eat.
[...] options and the most common natural sugar substitutes… Photo: Pinterest AGAVE PRO: Agave has a lower glycemic index, meaning your body absorbs it more slowly than refined sugar, so you avoid the typical blood-sugar [...]