Agave syrup, which is also known as agave nectar, is supposed to be a nutritious, healthy and superior alternative to sugar. For example, last Christmas my beautiful step-daughter, Kathleen, gave me a container of amber agave nectar because she knows I don’t eat sugar, and she wanted to do something thoughtful and appropriate for me.
As I write this article, I’m looking at the container of agave nectar that she gave to me. The front label says “100% pure sweetener” and “certified USDA organic.” The back label touts many other desirable qualities. It’s got a low glycemic index. It’s consistently delicious. It’s got a long shelf-life. It’s easy to use and is appropriate for all your “sweetening needs.” In fact, agave nectar is 1.5 times sweeter than table sugar. And most importantly, it’s a so-called natural product with no additives or preservatives. These are the reasons why agave is the trendy and expensive caloric sweetener preferred by many.
The brand given to me comes from Mexico, where agave nectar is widely produced, but agave nectar is also produced in South Africa. The nectar is derived from agave plants, which look a lot like aloe plants. Juice is extracted from the core of the agave. It’s then hydrolized by a process that uses either enzymes or heat or a combination of both heat and enzymes. Depending on the process used and the type agave plant, it yields a syrupy substance that’s somewhere in the range of 60% to 90% fructose. This means that agave syrup is a processed substance that’s mostly fructose. In comparison, high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, is typically made from a recipe that has 55% fructose and 42% glucose.
HFCS comes from corn, which is a natural source. Sugar comes from beets or sugar cane, also natural sources. And agave nectar comes from an agave plant. Even though sugar, HFCS and agave come from natural sources, the end product is a processed substance, not a natural food. No way. Broccoli is a natural food. You buy broccoli exactly the way it grows. Agave syrup is not natural because something has been done to it by humans to turn it into a fiberless syrupy substance.
Fructose has a good rep because it’s associated with fruit. Fruc even sounds like fruit. The fructose in fruit is accompanied by a good deal of fiber, and the amount of fructose in a piece of fruit is easily handled by the body. In contrast, the fructose in agave syrup and in similar products like high fructose corn syrup has no fiber. These syrups provide a highly concentrated dose of fructose, which is not easily handled by the body.
Until recently, fructose has been under the scientific radar as a dangerous additive substance because it has a low glycemic index and because fructose doesn’t result in an insulin response. And why? It’s because fructose isn’t measured by the glycemic index, which only measures glucose. The basic idea is that excess glucose is bad, which it is, while excess fructose is mistakenly thought to be healthy and good, which it isn’t.
Most people don’t realize that fructose is not metabolized like glucose. Glucose is metabolized in the cells, which is why insulin is needed to move the glucose into the cells. Fructose is metabolized in the liver where it’s converted directly to triglycerides, which is the scientific name for fat. The more fructose you ingest, the more fat you produce. It’s as simple as that. Fructose is a carbohydrate, but it’s metabolized like a fat. That’s right, a fat! All you people who are fat phobic and won’t put a teaspoon of butter in your mouth, need to start paying better attention to your fructose consumption. Excessive fructose also puts a heavy load on the liver, and it accelerates the production of uric acid which results in gout and in hypertension.
Unfortunately for us, fructose has been added to almost every substance that comes in a package, including so-called health foods like yogurt, snack bars and cereals. It’s a food manufacturer’s dream because it’s low-fat, it tastes good, and it’s cheap. Many scientists see a correlation between the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into the U.S. food system in 1976 and the explosion of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
High fructose consumption may be the underlying cause of metabolic syndrome, the set of common risk factors that are shared by type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity. When you add fiberless fructose (such as agave syrup) into your foods or drinks, you’re increasing your triglyceride production and you’re concurrently lowering your HDL cholesterol. High triglycerides and low HDL are common factor in all these diseases. It’s a much more accurate predictor of risk than the famed and highly advertised LDL cholesterol, which isn’t even listed as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome.
Agave syrup doesn’t have a caloric advantage, either. One tablespoon of agave syrup has 60 calories. Compare this to table sugar and HFCS which both have 46 calories per tablespoon. Agave syrup simply isn’t any better, and it might be worse because it has the most fructose.
Many MDs, nutritionists and natural health food experts whole-heartedly recommend agave syrup. It’s well-intended advice, but there is absolutely no advantage or health-based reason to add a high calorie, fiberless, concentrated and processed fructose syrup into your body. Please consider just saying no to agave syrup. It’s the same as saying no to HFCS. By the way, there’s an unsubstantiated rumor floating around on the internet that some manufacturers add high fructose corn syrup to their agave products to make it taste better. Who knows?
P.S. This is a picture of me and my adorable granddaughters (daughters of Kathleen). I can’t resist.
Two million viewers have already gone to YouTube to watch 
This smart video has everything you need to know about fructose and then some. Two vigorous thumbs up. Lustig also recommends: 
Listen up all you sugar-free, low-carb and low-fat people in the world. You don’t have to do without ketchup any more, and that’s a big woohoo. The new Heinz Reduced Sugar Ketchup is really an excellent product, and I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. So get thee to your pantry and throw out all your old bottles of Heinz ketchup. Then rush out to the grocery store and buy this new variety. Even though the label says “reduced sugar,” it’s actually sugar-free. The Reduced-Sugar product tastes exactly the same as the original product, but it’s every so slightly less viscous (which means it’s a titch more watery). Check out these other differences:
Oh my goodness, this is my new favorite salad, and I can hardly wait for lunch every day so that I can have it again and again. It’s a delicious, nutritious, visually beautiful, filling and a much-needed break from the ubiquitous and predictable chicken. This recipe is also perfect for vegans and for people who have an affinity for eating Biblical foods.
Preheat oven to 375 and prepare butternut squash. Put oil, cumin, paprika and salt in a large bowl and whisk until well blended. Add squash and gently toss until the slices are coated with the oil mixture. Arrange squash on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 20 minutes. Turn slices over and roast for another 15 minutes (or until tender). Cool.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased three of Rachel Ray’s non-stick skillets. (Technically, the brand is Rachel Ray Hard Anodized II Non-stick Dishwasher Safe Skillets.) I ended up making the purchase decision because her cookware got very high review scores from Cooks Magazine, which says it’s the best product at the most affordable price. For example, it only cost me $39.99 for the two-pack of 6- and 8-inch skillets at Amazon.com.
Every time my granddaughters come for a long visit, my husband stocks up on Nutella for them. Like most people, he thinks it’s a healthy hazelnut spread. Right now there are four unopened jars of Nutella in my pantry, and one of them has an Italian label. The Nutella that’s sold in the U.S. is usually made in Canada, but the parent company is Italian, and the product is sort of an Italian cultural icon. Anyway, I had to ask my husband to please consider backing off on the Nutella thing, because it’s more like candy than a healthy snack or breakfast food.
These are my adorable granddaughters!
In the sugar-free world, butter, oil and lard are not the bad guys in the diet. These products contain no natural sugars and no sugar is added to them by food manufacturers. Of, course, these foods have calories from fat, and that’s what supposedly makes them so undesirable. What’s not generally recognized or valued is the fact that the calories from butter and oil are highly satisfying and flavorful, two important and essential qualities that are typically ignored by the health and weight loss communities. When your food tastes good and satisfies you, you’re not constantly gnoshing around for something more or something else. Also, as most people know, the Mediterranean style of eating, which includes an abundance of olive oil, has been proven to be one of the healthiest diets in the world. Here’s some basic information about butter, oil, large and the most popular butter imitation spread (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter). 
Like most spread products, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is made with vegetable oil. This recipe features a blend of soybean oil and canola oil. The appeal of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is that it has 1/2 the calories of butter and a lot less saturated fat. Through the magic of legislation, the food manufacturer can legally claim the food is trans fat free, but when you look at the ingredients list you’ll see words like “partially hydrognated” and “hydrogenated.” This is the big clue that the product has trans fats.
It’s now considered “safe” and healthy for most people to eat an egg a day. Yes, eggs have 200 milligrams of cholesterol in the yolk, but research shows that people who eat an egg a day are no more likely to have a heart attack or a stroke than people who don’t eat eggs. So unless your physician or health care provider gives you specific advice to limit egg consumption, there’s no need for worry. Eggs are very low in saturated fat; they’re high in protein; rich in B Vitamins, and a great natural sugar-free food choice.
At long last, the scientific “establishment” is starting to understand that it’s the sugar, stupid! At long last, they’re starting to relay the important message that sugar (and all caloric sweeteners) are the major cause of obesity and health problems in our country and in our world. “Sugar is toxic beyond it’s calories,” say researchers from UC/San Francisco. ”The public’s excessive consumption of sugar not only is contributing to a global obesity pandemic but also is critically altering people’s hormones, metabolism and blood presssure and causing significant damange to the liver.” 
The bottom line is that this is really good news. This research is a tiny but hopeful chink in the low-fat, low-calorie message that has led us down a very long and wrong path for the past 50 years. Hooray for the Sugar-Free Miracle Diet Sytem that’s been extending this message a full 5 years ahead of the power curve! Listen up out-of-control eaters and sugar addicts! It’s absolutely essemtial to get caloric sweeteners (and foods that quickly convert to sugar) out of the diet! Eating sugar is like giving an alcoholic a drink. For get all the psycho talk, and do something practical with the way you eat.
I’m not sure how to react to celebrity chef Paula Deen’s delayed announcement of contracting diabetes. Do I give full vent to the same schadenfreude as when I learned that many tobacco executives die of lung cancer? I don’t think I can pull off kicking that woman when she’s down with a straight face.
Ms. Deen even before her announcement had always hedged her bets telling her audience to practice moderation. I wonder if moderation can be taught by people who don’t look like they walk it like they talk it. I have never expected total abstinence and a life without a little chocolate or Key Lime Pie in it makes you extremely boring. So does this make her the food TV equivalent of a professional football player willing to spend the rest of her life in extreme pain in return for fifteen years of gridiron glory as an example for the rest of us? She doesn’t score touchdowns or do funny endzone dances, so I don’t think her fans will give her the same free pass for the apparent stupidity of wrecking your body for other people’s entertainment.
News shows found pictures of Ms. Deen posed with stacks of butter and suddenly scrutinized every meal. Oooooooooooh! She had a cheeseburger and fries! I’m not going to defend that plate as healthy, but no one eats perfectly. I still occasionally bust out the real whipped cream for the once a year pumpkin pie. I pay for it a few days later and go back to my normal regimen. I suppose this sort of thing could be what Ms. Deen meant by moderation, striking a balance between her Key Lime Pie and living long enough to enjoy the experience.
Nancy Appleton PhD is a world expert on health problems due to over consumption of caloric sweeteners. She’s the author of Lick the Sugar Habit, Suicide by Sugar, Killer Colas and others. For more information about Dr. Appleton or to get on her mailing list, visit her website: 
I'm the creator and director of The Sugar-Free Miracle Diet System, a weight loss program that's specifically designed to stop out-of-control eating. I've been working in this field since 1998 and have helped over 3,000 people to break free of the reliance on food for non nutritional reasons. Recently, my stopping program has been expanded to address all out-of-control behaviors. 
"It was easier to stay on it than I thought."
"I really didn''t have any cravings, and it was pretty easy."
"I don't cut fat out at all. I just incorporate it as I normally would do."
"You have to want to be good to yourself... Everyone can benefit from taking sugar out of their diet."
"It's a surprise how much food there is to eat on this program."
"I'm more productive throughout the day. I'm pleasant. I'm happier."
"I can see how it will be very easy to maintain"
