Healing with Food Newsletter

Agave Syrup — Not Recommended

Accompanying recipe: Oatmeal Lace Cookies

Like a mild-tasting honey that is extra sweet but not too sticky, agave syrup (or nectar) is marketed as healthy. It's not. Furthermore, it has a metallic aftertaste. But what's worse is that it contains up to 90 percent of the trickster, fructose. Although high fructose sweeteners taste sweet, they don't signal your brain that you've had a sweet and so your body still craves a treat.

Obesity often results. High fructose consumption is also implicated in heart disease, diabetes, interference with copper metabolism and liver cirrhosis.

Agave syrup is neither healthful nor natural. It is enzymatically hydrolyzed from a large desert plant with spiky leaves; it is manufactured in Mexico and has been marketed for about 15 years. In choosing quality sweeteners, enjoy those that are minimally processed and have a substantial history of healthy use like honey, dehydrated cane juice and maple syrup. Here's a Directory of Sweeteners plus Three Secrets to Satisfy your Sweet Tooth.

Another reason claims are made for agave syrup healthfulness is due to its low glycemic value.  However, if it is eaten following a large meal that overly raised the blood sugar or if eaten with high glycemic foods, then agave syrup no longer has a low glycemic value. Rather, it mysteriously—and problematically—takes on the value of the higher glycemic food.

Fortunately, a good diet is quite simple. Favor whole and unrefined foods. Then you can ignore the marketing ploys of highly processed products.

May you be well nourished!

Rebecca Wood