Agave: is it really a 'healthy' option?

[Inatic]

For more info/full article:http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/07/02/Agave-A-Triumph-of-Marketing-over-Truth.aspx

The Myth of Agave as a “Healthy” Sugar Substitute

* Agave syrup is neither a natural food nor organic

Fully chemically processed sap from the agave plant is known as hydrolyzed high fructose inulin syrup.

According to Dr. Ingrid Kohlstadt, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and an associate faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health:

“[Agave is] almost all fructose, highly processed sugar with great marketing.”

* Agave syrup is not low calorie.

Agave syrup is about 16 calories per teaspoon, the same as table sugar.

* Agave syrup may not have a low glycemic index.

Depending upon where the agave comes from and the amount of heat used to proc*ess it, your agave syrup can be anywhere from 55 percent to 90 percent fructose! (And it’s likely you won’t be able to tell from the product label.)

This range of fructose content hardly makes agave syrup a logical choice if you’re hoping to avoid the high levels of fructose in HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).

And if you’re diabetic, you should know that the alleged benefit of agave for diabetics is purely speculative. Very few agave studies have been docu*mented, and most involved rats. There have been no clinical studies done on its safety for diabetics.

Since most agave syrup has such a high percentage of fructose, your blood sugar will likely spike just as it would if you were consuming regular sugar or HFCS, and you would also run the risk of raising your triglyceride levels. It’s also important to understand that whereas the glucose in other sugars are converted to blood glucose, fructose is a relatively unregulated source of fuel that your liver converts to fat and cholesterol.

A significant danger here is that fructose does not stimulate your insulin secretion, nor enhance leptin production, which is thought to be involved in appetite regulation. (This was detailed in one of the most thorough scientific analyses published to date on this topic.)

Because insulin and leptin act as key signals in regulating how much food you eat, as well as your body weight, dietary fructose can also contribute to increased food intake and weight gain.

Therefore, if you need to lose weight, fructose is one type of sugar you’ll definitely want to avoid, no matter what the source is.

[Pandora]

As a diabetic, I can confirm that agave nectar has almost no effect on my blood sugar levels--at least, no more so than sugar does. I use it almost exclusively as a sweetener, when I do use a sweetener, but I use it in very small amounts. I think when it comes down to it, the adage of "all things in moderation" is key. A sweetener is a sweetener. I treat it just as I would sugar, which means I use it sparingly. I do feel better about using it than I do refined sugar, but in the end I use so little of either that I doubt it makes any difference which I choose. I use dark, raw agave, and generally choose organic. I think it's a better choice, but as with every food craze/trend/etc, we have to realize there are no miracle foods. So, moderation. Sugar is sugar.

I wanted to comment on this since agave has shelf space in my cabinet and has for years. Pretty much any time there is hype about any food as the next good-for-you substitute, it's best to take it with a large grain of salt. I mean, I'm sure we've all noticed how product packaging changes to reflect the latest trends in nutrition, but it's only the packaging that changes, not necesarily the products themselves. Or they make very small changes to products so they can advertise them to fit the latest craze and capitalize on the latest trends and switch back to the same ol' same ol' when the trend dies down. It's manipulative, but that's what marketing is there for. That said, agave is delicious... oh man... :love: Tastes better than white sugar anytime.


But yeah... sugar is sugar and agave is certainly sugar.

[Ana]

Does it have a bitter after taste like stevia?

[Pandora]

Nope, it's very similar to honey, but a bit thinner in consistency.

[ncfarris26]

For more info/full article:http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/07/02/Agave-A-Triumph-of-Marketing-over-Truth.aspx

Hmm...I eat this almost every morning with my protein pancakes. I never know what to believe. :scratch:

But man does it taste good! I love it. Stevia is bleh to me. :yucky:

[Ana]

I may have to try it then :lol:

[Pandora]

I can't stand stevia. I know it's natural, but it just has such a chemical, bitter taste... :blink:

[Ana]

I can't stand stevia. I know it's natural, but it just has such a chemical, bitter taste... :blink:

Stevia sent me right back to splenda.

Soooo bitter :sick:

[Sandy]

I can't stand stevia. I know it's natural, but it just has such a chemical, bitter taste... :blink:

I have read that consumers should be cautious about the consumption of Stevia as further testing is required. :shrug:



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REBIANA
Natural, high-potency sweetener: used in diet beverages. Also called rebaudioside A; sold under brand names Truvia and PureVia. Purified from crude extracts of stevia, which itself is sold as a table-top sweetener at some "health food" stores.

Stevia, which is about 100 times sweeter than sugar, is obtained from a shrub (yerba dulce) that is grown in Brazil, Paraguay, southeast Asia, and elsewhere. The actual sweet chemicals are the closely related stevioside and rebaudioside A. Stevia and its derivatives are said to be the holy grail of high-potency sweeteners, because they are naturally derived alternatives to the often-controversial synthetic sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose, cyclamate). Stevia has been used in Japan and several other countries. Still, many people perceive stevia and its sweet derivatives to have a foul taste in certain foods.
Just because a substance is natural, does not mean that it is safe. In the 1990s, the U.S. FDA rejected stevia for use as a food ingredient. Likewise, Canada did not approve stevia, and a European Community scientific panel declared that stevia was unacceptable for use in food. High dosages fed to rats reduced sperm production and increased cell proliferation in their testicles, which could cause infertility or other problems. Pregnant hamsters that had been fed large amounts of a derivative of stevioside called steviol had fewer and smaller offspring. In the laboratory, steviol can be converted into a mutagenic compound, which may promote cancer by causing mutations in the cells’ DNA.
In the 21st century, Cargill and Merisant (which marks aspartame-based Equal) developed extracts of stevia that are 95 percent pure rebaudioside A and 200 times as sweet as sugar. The companies call their products Truvia and PureVia, respectively, with the nickname of rebiana. In 2008, Cargill and Merisant told the FDA that rebiana should be considered “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS. (GRAS substances are given less scrutiny by the FDA than standard food additives.) A third company, Wisdom Natural Brands, declared that its stevia-related product to be GRAS without even notifying the FDA.
UCLA toxicologists and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, however, urged the FDA to reject the GRAS claims for rebiana. They reported that FDA’s guidelines call for major new food additives to be tested for two years on both rats and mice, but rebiana had only been tested on rats. The toxicologists and CSPI said that testing of rebiana in both rats and mice is particularly important, because several tests found that rebiana-related substances caused mutations and damaged chromosomes or DNA.
Despite the disagreement about rebiana’s safety, just before Christmas 2008 the FDA agreed that the chemical could be considered GRAS. Shortly thereafter, beverage companies started marketing rebiana-sweetened products. If consumers find the taste acceptable and future tests do not find major risks, rebiana may well be the elusive natural non-caloric sweetener that industry has sought for decades.

[synergyb3]

I'm just very happy that I prefer stevia over other sweeteners and really don't feel the need to try anything else.

I've seen a lot of threads elsewhere about agave being a "bad" sweetener but really don't know.

Is all agave syrup highly processed? Like everything else, the method used is going to affect the quality as well as the health aspects.

[Blondell]

I like it. Taste very similar to honey. I like to put a bit of it on my Ez bread after toasting it, :yum:

[Pandora]

Is all agave syrup highly processed? Like everything else, the method used is going to affect the quality as well as the health aspects.

The stuff I use is organic and raw. Since it's raw, I assume it's not highly processed...