Showdown! Agave VS. High Fructose Corn Syrup

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Agave_tequilana_2.jpg/797px-Agave_tequilana_2.jpg)

Let the showdown begin, but first, a word about agave.

I love it in Coconut Bliss ice cream and I love it in cookies and cakes. I love the perfectly moist consistency without compromised flavor. I love agave-sweetened lemonade. Agave is easy to substitute, relatively cheap to buy (2 bottles for xx bucks at Costco) and easily satiates the pesky sweet tooth.

However.....

I'm very suspicious of it.

Even the organic, raw, "high quality" versions. I'm suspicious even though high quality health food stores carry it. No sweetener should become my darling like agave has become the media's. And something I need to be reminded of--all sugars should be eaten in moderation, even the good ones.

Why I am suspicious of agave:
*It is high in fructose.
*It is higher in fructose than high fructose corn syrup. It ranges from over 55% to 90% fructose.
*Too much fructose is bad for our bodies (see Wiki Fructose, below).
*It is not a locally grown plant. Most agave is imported.
*It is relatively high in calories/about the same as white sugar.
*Though it plays to the tune of my sweet tooth, it keeps me addicted to wanting more sweet stuff.
*It offers no nutrients or benefits to my body.
*There are healthier sweeteners like date sugar, fruit, honey, molasses and stevia.
*There are weak labeling laws for the term "Raw". For the raw foodies out there, you may not be getting what you think you're getting.
*It is touted as low glycemic, however, the glycemic index uses glucose as a measure, not fructose, which can be especially harmful to diabetics, the very people agave is often marketed towards.
*It is touted for it's use in weight loss, but has just as many calories as sugar.
*Fructose has been linked to: raised triglycerides, fatty liver disease, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, belly fat, and Metabolic Syndrome.

Why high fructose corn syrup deserves more credit than agave:
*It is a by-product of locally-grown corn, whereas most agave nectar is imported.
*It is lower in fructose than agave. The HFCS used in soft drinks is 55/45, fructose/glucose and the HFCS in foods and baked goods is about 42/58, fructose/glucose.
*It's cheaper (true, but obviously tongue-in-cheek)
*Yes it's more processed than agave, but there is no fear of any company adding high fructose corn syrup as a fill to high fructose corn syrup.....
*I have no idea if high fructose corn syrup comes organic.

High fructose corn syrup makes me cringe, so don't get me wrong. It's just that agave should make me cringe, too, but because it is touted as this super-wonderful alternative to sugar the vibe seems to be positive. Neither one offers much of anything but calories. Ahhhh, media hype.

For those of you who read my previous post about agave, here are more bits and pieces of information:

"Refined sugar, corn syrup, and agave nectar contained minimal antioxidant activity...." -Journal of the American Dietetic Assocation .

"Fructose consumption has also been related to the metabolic syndrome and to abnormal lipid patterns. This evidence suggests that we should worry about our current level of fructose consumption, which has been increasing steadily for over 200 years and now represents over 10% of the energy intake of some people." -Int J Obes

Marion Nestle mentions agave in her blog, Food Politics:

"Q. Can you please explain what benefits, if any, there are in using a “natural” sweetener, e.g. agave, over regular sugar? Are there any differences in terms of glucose/fructose makeup?

A. Agave is more expensive so you probably won’t use as much of it. Beyond that, it is higher in fructose than table sugar or honey. This is because agave contains inulin, a polymer of fructose, which must be hydrolyzed (broken down by heat or enzymes) to fructose to make the sweetener. It’s a processed sweetener requiring one hydrolysis step, requiring more processing than honey and less than high fructose corn syrup. It has the same number of calories as any other sugar, about 4 per gram or 16 per teaspoon."

"HFCS [sub the word agave here] does contribute to added sugars and calories, and those concerned with managing their weight should be concerned about calories from beverages and other foods, regardless of HFCS content." -Am J Clin Nutr.

The following articles have more information about agave and fructose:

• This article is written by Nancy Appleton, PhD, clinical nutritionist, researcher, lecturer and author: "Fructose Is No Answer for a Sweetener"
• The Truth About Agave: Not as Healthy as You May Think
  
• Wiki Agave.
• Wiki High-Fructose Corn Syrup.
• Wiki Fructose.

Unfortunately, some of my favorite sources had very little or nothing to say about agave nectar. To me this means it is under-studied and another good reason to stick to other sweeteners.

This article is from the Mercola website:

{"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 process 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. 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 documented, and most involved rats. There have been no clinical studies done on its safety for diabetics.

Other Reasons You Should Steer Clear of Agave (Mercola article, continued)
1. There are very few quality controls in place to monitor the production of agave syrup. Nearly all agave sold in the US comes from Mexico. Industry insiders are concerned agave distributors are using lesser, even toxic, agave plants due to a shortage of blue agave. There are also concerns that some distributors are cutting agave syrup with corn syrup--how often and to what extent is anyone's guess. In addition, the FDA has refused shipments of agave syrup due to excessive pesticide residues.

2. Agave syrup is not a whole food--it is fractionated and processed. The sap is separated from the plant and treated with heat, similar to how maple sap is made into maple syrup. Agave nectar is devoid of many of the nutrients contained in the original whole plant.

3. Agave syrup is not a live food. The natural enzymes are removed to prevent agave syrup from fermenting and turning into tequila in your food pantry or cabinet.

4. Agave is, for all intents and purposes, highly concentrated sugar. Sugar and sweeteners wreak havoc on your health and are highly addictive."} -Mercola.com

Let's keep the discussion open. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one!

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

"The Process:

1. Cornstarch is treated with bacteria to produce shorter chains of sugar. It is purified then shipped to HFCS manufacturers.
2. It is then treated with a fungus and put in a fermentation vat where one would likely see balls of the fungus floating on the top. The sugar has now turned into glucose.
3. The next process chemically changes the sugars once again to create a high percent of fructose. An enzyme is packed into columns and the sugar mixture passes over it. The enzyme is very expensive so it is reused until it loses most of its activity.
4. It then goes through two more processes to bring it to a fructose level of 90 percent, then back down to the final concentration of 55 percent fructose.

Inside the Body:

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a processed food that wreaks havoc on our bodies.

It goes directly to the liver and releases enzymes that tell the body to store fat. Because HFCS is in the form of a liquid (most commonly soda), the body absorbs it quickly. It slows fat-burning and causes weight gain. It inhibits the production of insulin, which creates a sense of being full. Therefore, people may eat more than they should.

Dangers to the Body:

1. Obesity
2. Heart attack
3. Restlessness in infants
4. see “Counting the Many Ways Sugar Harms Your Health” for a more complete list.

*If you are going to make only one change in your family’s eating habits, eliminate soda!!!"

(Thanks to Krista for contributing this information!)

For more information about high fructose corn syrup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup

Glycemic Index and The Difficulty in Being Sugar-Free

In my quest to research all I can about sugar and use alternative, "healthy" sweeteners, I have come across a lot of variables having to do with health. One example is honey. It is natural. I eat it non-pasteurized so that it still contains active enzymes/bacteria that have proven health benefits. (The downside with non-pasteurized honey is that it crystallizes sitting on the shelf, but can be heated to liquefy it again.) However, I did some research this morning and found that honey has a high glycemic index--(which, as a reminder, "the glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers—the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response," courtesy of http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm).

Certain organizations promote honey as only having a glycemic index (GI) of 5o, which is considered low. Others have found that honey is about as bad as white refined sugar in this respect, with a GI of 83, which is high. Here is an interesting piece of research I found: http://www.mendosa.com/diabetes_update_22.htm. Scroll down to where it says, "Is Honey Really Low Glycemic?" There are some great leads to research that has been done on this. My concern is that I have found honey to be a great alternative to white refined sugar, but if it causes my blood sugar to sky-rocket, is it really a healthy alternative to sugar?

If you would like to see the USDA's breakdown of nutrients/types of sugars in honey, go here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl. It is fascinating! I had no idea that honey contained sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose and galactose!

Also, I looked up a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, which concludes, "...there is often no difference in responses [blood sugar responses] between foods containing added sugars and those containing naturally-occurring sugars," http://journals.cambridge.org/action/quickSearch#.

Is my plight in vain? Am I cheating myself of the benefits of a "sugar-free" diet if I continue to eat other kinds of sweeteners that aren't much healthier? Part of my goal was to see how easy/hard it is to achieve eating food without refined sugars in them. I have found that most packaged foods contain sugar and that it is very difficult to be sugar-free in an uncontrolled food environment like a restaurant, cafe, someone else's house, group function, etc. My hang-up at the moment is do I cut out other sweeteners that are practically as bad as white sugar? I wonder how I would feel if I only ate fruit and vegetable sugars and not honey or maple syrup or other sugar substitutes? Could I go without the desserts that those sweeteners have allowed me so far? I have to think about it. I could really use suggestions/comments at this point! Help!