Agave: Healthy or NOT?

Is agave nectar dangerous to your health? You may have already come across the many articles about the truth behind agave nectar.The basics of these articles is that agave is highly processed and is not as natural as we are led to believe. Also some, not all, agave is cut with high-fructose corn syrup, yikes! We are led to believe that fructose is the natural sugar in fruit and that because it is low-glycemic it is safe and better for us than sugar. Well apparently fructose is fructose and the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup is the same as the fructose in agave nectar. Yikes! I was led to believe that the fructose in agave is natural and therefore different from the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup. It is apparently the same. Please read the full article on agave: Agave Nectar, the High Fructose Health Food Fraud by Rami Nagel, author of Healing Our Children. I do suggest reading it with a grain of salt and deciding for yourself what you believe. It makes me second guess my use of agave. I also suggest that you read about the patent processing of agave and photos of how agave is made. Not all agave is processed like this, Wilderness Family has a different process. But beyond the processing I am pretty convinced that we should not be consuming processed fructose and that even the so-called raw and pure agave nectar may not be a healthy choice because they are still un-natural fructose. Fructose is just one of many components in fruit, it is not the main sweetener and is different from processed fructose. A small amount of fructose may not be harmful but I am having a hard time finding any conclusive evidence either way. Any concentrated sweetener can cause harm when overused so always use in moderation. That includes, honey, maple syrup, cane juice, etc. I was convinced that agave was a great alternative to sugar as were many other practitioners and health seekers. It was the ideal answer for those with candida, diabetes, sugar sensitivity and children. I no longer feel that way and want you to be informed as well. Until I can find conclusive evidence of an agave that is naturally processed and safe I will not be using it or recommending it.

I am going back to the basics, the unrefined (or very little processing), which is what most of my suggestions are. Even these sweeteners need to be consumed in moderation. Cut back the amount of sugar in your recipes; they are usually super sweet and don't need to be. Use one third to half the amount of blended dates or maple syrup and cut the liquid by 1/5th in your baking recipes.

1. Raw honey from a local bee keeper Phil Ellis. Know where your honey comes from. Many bee keepers will feed their bees sugar in order to produce honey in the winter. Make sure the bees are treated well. We need healthy bees! Honey is best eaten raw, try blended dates or maple syrup for baking.
2. Dates. Soak them and blend them for making raw desserts, sweetening yogurt and baking with. Also fruit like bananas for baking and apple sauce.
3. Grade C or dark maple syrup. It is processed with heat but is not chemically altered. Organic only to avoid formaldehyde used in processing non-organic maple syrup.
4. Sucanat or Rapundra sugar, muscovado sugar, organic jaggery or dehydrated cane juice. Good for baking. Very little processing; it is basically heated. Organic again; for your protection and the farmers protection. Although I don't think there is non-organic sucanat.
5. Raw stevia; not the refined white stuff. If you have candida and cannot tolerate any concentrated sweeteners.

Other resources and articles that I have looked at in order to find the truth about agave are: A quick video explanation at Renegade Health

The Truth about Agave Syrup: Not as Healthy as You May Think by John Kohler

Agave provokes a bitter debate as a sweetener By Fitness Reporter and Julie Deardorff Health Some interesting comments at this post Understanding sugars

What noted author Sally Fallon, M.A. says about sugar "SUGAR AND HEART DISEASE Most fat in our bodies and in the food we eat is in the form of triglycerides (three fatty acid chains attached to a glycerol molecule). Elevated triglycerides in the blood have been positively linked to proneness to heart disease but these triglycerides do not come directly from dietary fats: they are made in the liver from any excess sugars that have not been completely burned. The source of these excess sugars is any food containing carbohydrates, but particularly refined sugar and processed carbohydrates. Refined sugar and other refined products were virtually unknown in the human diet before 1600 and never used in great quantities before the present century. In 1821 the average sugar intake in America was 10 pounds per person per year; today it is 170 pounds per person per year. As the consumption of sugar has increased so have all civilized diseases. We need foods that are whole, not skeletonized and denatured. Sugar, especially sucrose and fructose has been shown to shorten life in numerous animal experiments. Excessive use of sugar is associated with a rise in blood cholesterol, rise in triglycerides, increase in adhesiveness of the blood platelets, increase in blood insulin levels, etc. Numerous studies have positively correlated sugar consumption with heart disease. These results are far more positive than any of the studies linking heart disease and saturated fats. Moderate use of natural sweeteners is found in many traditional societies. We therefore recommended you satisfy your sweet tooth by eating fully ripened fruit in season and a limited use of natural sweeteners high in vitamins and minerals such as raw honey, dehydrated cane sugar juice (Sucanat) and maple syrup. Avoid all refined sugars including table sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, fructose and large amounts of fruit juice." Source

I will continue the research and update you if I find anything new. I have contacted a distributor of agave to see what they know and can find out about Wilderness Family agave, which is a company that I believe in. That being said I don't know if there is any good agave if it is all fructose from inulin (more on inulin later). I am sticking with local and unprocessed honey for now. I will be changing my past recipes too.

Please use this information to decide for yourself and feel free to post your thoughts and anything you have discovered. Happy Thoughts and Good Eats, Marissa