Hi, I was wondering if any of you have heard this about agave nectar. Many vegan recipes call for it and now I'm nervous to use it. Here's what a doctor has to say via the Huffington Post:
"Agave syrup (nectar) is basically high-fructose corn syrup masquerading as a health food.
Extracts from the agave plant have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.Unfortunately there's zero evidence that any of those compounds are present in the commercially made syrup.
Agave nectar has a low-glycemic index for one reason only: it's largely made of fructose, which although it has a low-glycemic index, is probably the single most damaging form of sugar when used as a sweetener. With the exception of pure liquid fructose, agave nectar has the highest fructose content of any commercial sweetener. Agave nectar is a whopping 90 percent fructose, almost -- but not quite -- twice as high as HFCS.
Research shows that it's the fructose part of sweeteners that's the most dangerous. Fructose causes insulin resistance and significantly raises triglycerides (a risk factor for heart disease). It also increases fat around the middle which in turn puts you at greater risk for diabetes, heart disease and Metabolic Syndrome (AKA pre-diabetes) .
In the agave plant, most of the sweetness comes from a particular kind of fructose called inulin, which actually has some health benefits but there's not much inulin left in the actual syrup. In the manufacturing process, enzymes are added to the inulin to break it down into digestible sugar (fructose), resulting in a syrup that has a fructose content that is, at best, 57 percent and -- much more commonly -- as high as 90 percent.
"Agave syrup is almost all fructose, highly processed sugar with great marketing," said Dr. Ingrid Kohlstadt, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and an associate faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
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