Guardian sent me some links to articles about Xylitol so I'm going to post them here and ask that ya'll start checking out the data. For the record, we get xylitol made from Birch trees from Finland.
**************************************
Is Xylitol Safe or Effective?
According to a study conducted in 1977, consuming 1.4 ounces of Xylitol per day will cause diarrhea in many subjects. Xylitol, like most sugar alcohols, can have a laxative effect, because sugar alcohols are not fully broken down during digestion. The Xylitol.org web site sates, "In the amounts needed to prevent tooth decay (less than 15 grams per day), xylitol is safe for everyone." 15 grams of xylitol is about 0.5 ounces. What about doses over 15 grams?
Xylitol - What is it?
Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar substitute. Xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms. It can be extracted from corn fibre, birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose but with only two-thirds the food energy.
Xylitol was first derived from Birch trees in Finland in the 19th century and was first popularized in Europe as a safe sweetener for diabetics that would not impact insulin levels. Today, using maize sources, most world supplies reportedly come from China. Xylitol is widely used in Finland, its "home country". Many Finnish confectioneries employ xylitol, or have a xylitol version available. Virtually all chewing gum sold in Finland, and in the rest of Europe, is sweetened with xylitol.
Properties
One teaspoon (5 mL) of xylitol contains 9.6 calories, as compared to one teaspoon of sugar, which has 15 calories. Xylitol contains zero net effective carbohydrates, whereas sugar contains 4 grams per 5 mL. Xylitol has virtually no aftertaste, and is advertised as "safe for diabetics and individuals with hyperglycemia". This is because sugar-alcohols have less impact on a person's blood sugar than regular sugars.
But before you jump to any conclusions - read on.
How is Xylitol Made?
A search of patents online explains one of the processes for making xylitol, You begin with some source material containing xylan. One commonly used source is corn imported from China. (Does this sound healthy to you ?)
1. First the xylan needs to be broken down by a process called acid hydrolyzing. This process leaves us with xylose and acetic acid. Then the process of hydrogenation is carried out at higher pressures and temperatures ranging from 158 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. Hydrogenation needs a catalyst, so a substance called Raney nickel can be used which is a powdered nickel-aluminium alloy.
2. The acetic acid needs to be removed as the material safety data sheet (MSDS) describes it as, "Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Hazardous in case of skin contact (corrosive, permeator), of eye contact (corrosive)."
3. Then the hydrolyzing acid and organic residues must be removed, this is done by heating the mixture and evaporating it.
4. The resulting syrup, hopefully now free of acetic acid, hydrolyzing acid, nick-aluminum and other residues.
5. The syrup is crystallized by stirring ethanol into it.
6. The crystalline xylitol is now separated in a centrifuge from the ethanol and from the sorbitol remaining in solution.
7. You now have xylitol.
Health Claims
It is obvious that xylitol, in addition to killing bacteria, will probably kill just about anything or anyone. This clearly explains why it is only recommended to be used in small doses. Yet if you go to a health food store, you will see larger sized bags of xylitol on the shelf, promoting its many health uses.
Health Concerns
In lab tests, xylitol will kill a rat 50% of the time in a dosage of 16.5 grams of xylitol for every 1000 grams of rat. Medium rats weigh 100-120 grams, or say .25 pounds. That means, to kill a 100 gram rat, you need only to get the rat to consume, 1.65 grams of xylitol.
A typical xylitol piece of gum contains .7 – 1 gram of xylitol. About half the amount needed to kill a rat. One study states that humans consumed up to 400 grams of xylitol per day without any ill health effects. It is hard to believe that such a study is accurate in comparison to the lab tests done as indicated on the material safety data sheets. If 1.65 grams can kill a rat, consuming 400 grams would be highly toxic to humans.
More concern is that there seems to be no long term safety data about the long term health effects of regularly consuming xylitol. The data sheets state the following:
"Epidemiology: No information found
Teratogenicity: No information found
Reproductive Effects: No information found
Mutagenicity: No information found
Neurotoxicity: No information found"
Critics will claim that lethal doses on material data sheets are not conclusive proof. But you must ask yourself this question, has xylitol been proven conclusively to be safe or effective?
What About the Cavity Fighting Power?
Assume you don't mind your liver being poisoned or the diarrhea side effects that are possible from xylitol gum or mints, because you want to fight the cavities. You would assume that there is a huge body of evidence showing that xylitol prevents cavities, think again. An article published in the Journal of the American Dental Association in 2006 volume 137, states, "Some studies claimed that xylitol-sweetened gum had an anticariogenic effect, though these claims need further study." This article basically says that any evidence that xylitol sweetened gums stops cavities is not conclusive and requires further study.
Conclusions About Xylitol
Xylitol is a processed sugar. After being hydrogenated and having toxic chemicals added to xylan mostly from Chinese corn or other plant material, and then removed, you get xylitol. For anyone who wants to be healthy, the first thing that is pretty much unanimous about any diet or protocol to restore your health, is that you need to avoid processed sugars. While there are a variety of opinions on what foods to eat in replacement of processed sugar, it is blatantly clear that processed sugars, like xylitol, are extremely harmful to humans. Perhaps, xylitol has special uses in special cases; as a regular part of your diet, it is clearly a poor idea.There are much safer choices like Stevia or Raw, Organic Honey in small quantities. [WRONG]
Xylitol might inhibit bacteria growth, but so does white sugar. Xylitol's dirty little secret is that even in moderate doses of larger than 15 grams, (approximately 3 teaspoons), xylitol's own promotional material says it is not safe for everyone to use. Children being smaller and less developed than adults, will obviously be much more sensitive to xylitol's effects.
The way to prevent and control cavities is not with a processed sugar chewing gum or mint, but rather with a good diet. A good diet that is capable of preventing cavities is generally low in sugar, and high in absorbable vitamins and minerals, particularly fat-soluble vitamins in foods like avocado, coconut, wheat germ, and healthy sea foods.
If you want healthy teeth and gums, you need to avoid processed sugar's like xylitol. Avoiding other processed foods like processed sugar, white flour and other foods not made from freshly ground grains, cheap low quality vegetable oils, soft drinks and artificial flavors and preservatives, soy milk, pasteurized milk, and other non-organic, non-wholesome foods will help increase your immunity to cavities. Also bruch your teeth regularly and floss to remove plaque and food particles.
There is no short cut to good wholesome
whole and organic foods for health.
It is quite clear that xylitol is not safe or healthy.
AGAVE WORSE THAN HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP ?
Many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer "natural" sweetener. They want to avoid well documented dangerous sweeteners like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but are unaware that most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS.
A number of natural agave manufacturers and health conscious consumers still proclaim agave is a safe, all-natural sweetener that is good for everyone.
We recommend other options such as stevia products. You can also use xylitol in small amounts or glucose, which is sold commercially as dextrose, and can easily be purchased on Amazon for $1 per pound. we do not sell any of these products.
Our only purpose for sharing this information is to help people understand the truth about health. In case you haven't noticed, we have an epidemic of obesity in the US and it wasn't until recently that my eyes opened up to the primary cause -- fructose.
Yes, it is all about freedom of choice. It is hard to have freedom if you aren't given the entire story, and up until now that has been the case with agave.
Are Natural Agave Products Any Better?
The three products sent off to the lab were:
1. NOW Foods Organic Amber Agave Nectar
2. Madhava Agave Nectar
3. Wholesome Sweetener Organic Blue Agave
There was no particular reason these three brands, other than they are the products advertised and heard mentioned most often by agave syrup users.
And the Winner is: None of the Above!
The results support the point that they are ALL quite high in fructose, ranging from 59 to 67 grams of fructose per 100-gram sample.
It is important to note that high fructose corn syrup has 55 percent fructose. As you can see below, every one of these products far exceeded the fructose in high fructose corn syrup by considerable amounts.
The other variable that needs to be considered is whether or not the fructose is conjugated to glucose or another sugar molecule, as this would moderate the detrimental effects of fructose somewhat.
High fructose corn syrup fructose is 55 percent free floating fructose totally dissociated from glucose. This is also the case in nearly all the lower quality agave products as they are highly processed. Some of the higher quality agave products may be processed in a way that preserves the fructose bonding and thus somewhat limits its damage.
We did not test for fructose conjugation in our test, but even if it were, the Wholesome Sweetener Organic Blue Agave had 21 percent more fructose than high fructose corn syrup.
(Chart here: _http://altmedsales.com/index.php?target=pages&page_id=xilitol)
Fructose is Fructose
We are fully convinced that if we can educate the public about how fructose is different from other sugars metabolically, we can actually reverse and eventually eliminate the obesity epidemic. We would encourage those of you who remain doubtful that fructose is any worse than any other sugar to look at the work done by Dr. Richard Johnson, chief of the kidney disease and hypertension department at the University of Colorado, and author of The Sugar Fix, one of the best books on the market on the health dangers of fructose—specifically, how fructose causes high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and kidney disease.
One of the surprising facts according to Dr. Johnson is how detrimental the impact of fructose is on your uric acid level.
For those of you who maintain that "a sugar is a sugar is a sugar," fructose -- and fructose ALONE -- drives up uric acid. The connection between fructose, uric acid, hypertension, insulin resistance/diabetes and kidney disease is so clear that your uric acid level can be used as a marker for toxicity from fructose.
According to Dr. Johnson:
If you doubt fructose is the leading contributor to obesity, then we urge you to watch an excellent video presentation by Dr. Robert H. Lustig, M.D. of the University of California San Francisco, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, which masterfully illustrates just exactly HOW the liver's breakdown of fructose leads to obesity and chronic disease.
Much of the fructose you eat is literally stored as fat. The carbohydrate fructose is converted into fatty acids (lipogenesis), which is then stored in your body's fat cells as fat.
It largely boils down to a quantity issue.
You need to keep your daily dose of ALL fructose down to below 25 grams per day. Additionally, you can use your blood uric acid level as a marker of sensitivity to fructose. If your uric acid level is above 4 mg/dl for men and 3.5 mg/dl for women, you are probably better off avoiding fructose in most forms.
We have nothing against the agave plant.
Like many plants, the agave undoubtedly has many different phytochemicals with health-supporting properties. The problem lies in the processing, which, like any food processing, destroys most of these nutrients. Obviously, branded products undergo different amounts and types of processing, under different temperatures, etc.
What you're left with, then, is a high-fructose syrup, similar metabolically to high fructose corn syrup in terms of metabolic impact. Regardless of the organic-ness, regardless of the care taken in processing, regardless of the overall quality -- agave syrup is mostly fructose. Plain and simple.
But even this is not a problem, IF your syrup is free of chemicals, and IF you are using it in very small quantities, and IF you have no issues such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, kidney or heart disease.
Unfortunately, most people cannot satisfy all those IFs.
If you are diabetic or insulin resistant, you'll want to avoid these concentrated sugars altogether, regardless of the product quality.
If you are among the fortunate few without any of those health problems, congratulations! You're definitely doing something right. Just keep your overall fructose usage below 25 grams per day, agave syrup included. One teaspoon of agave syrup has 4 grams of fructose.
Naturally, agave syrup brands are going to differ quite a bit in quality, as all products do. If you are going to use it, you'll have to judge for yourself what is true quality versus marketing hype.
Agave's Favorable Glycemic Index is Meaningless
The fact that agave has a favorable glycemic index (GI) is often mentioned in its defense. But GI does not tell the entire story.
Agave syrup and other high-fructose sweeteners have metabolic consequences that aren't measured by an immediate insulin spike. This is why I have never advocated using the GI to select your foods.
It is possible to have a low fasting glucose yet have significantly elevated insulin levels.
In fact, some people with particularly robust insulin responses actually have very normal blood glucose levels because their insulin suppresses blood glucose for some time. If this is going on, you are essentially pre-diabetic and should reduce or eliminate fructose altogether. But you would never know it by just spot-checking your blood sugar after consuming a dose of agave syrup!
On the topic of agave, Dr. Johnson made the following recommendation:
Honey is better than agave for the simple reason that the benefits of raw, organic honey have been scientifically established. And the honey recommended is whole, raw and unprocessed. But use the same caution with honey as with agave syrup -- if you are fructose sensitive, you should be minimizing it or avoiding it altogether since it is also 70 percent fructose.
Isn't that kinda like talking out of both sides of the mouth at once? And above, they go on about xylitol, and then a little further down, recommend it. Now they are saying honey is okay even though it is higher in fructose that HFCS??? Plus they recommend whole grains which are deadly???
So, keep your dose below 25 grams of TOTAL fructose from all sources per day, and reduce this amount if you are sensitive to fructose.
How do you know if you are fructose sensitive?
Have your uric acid level checked. Your uric acid level should be about 4.0 mg/dl if you are a man or 3.5 mg/dl if you are a woman.
Busting Mythbusting Myths
Unfortunately, myths are being perpetuated -- not busted here such as seeking to confuse people that there is really a clinical difference between fructans and inulin, the form of starch that agave initially stores fructose in.
Simply speaking inulin is a fructose polymer in which the fructose molecules are interconnected. This is clearly better than free floating fructose that is present in HFCS or many lower quality agaves, but once you swallow the inulin your body will rapidly convert it to fructose, so ultimately, you will still receive a similar amount of fructose. You are not somehow 'magically" protected from the fructose because it is initially complexed as fructose polymer.
They also state that agave nectar does not contribute to liver inflammation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, or obesity. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is shocking that the FTC doesn't come down on them like a ton of bricks for false advertising.
The evidence is BEYOND clear. There are loads of studies establishing that when you consume fructose in the high levels that are typically consumed by most Americans, your risk for all of these diseases dramatically increases.
Where are the studies that ANY of this is based on? The links to them??
What agave and HFCS manufacturers FAIL to tell you is that the AVERAGE American is consuming 70 grams per day.
While individuals may be able to tolerate larger doses of a complexed fructose polymer like inulin, ultimately it is broken down to fructose and they will need to metabolically address this sugar, which at doses typically consumed is a metabolic poison.
Most agave producers spout nearly identical garbage that the HFCS industry claims, They would have you believe that there really is no difference between glucose and fructose.
They claim that consuming large amounts of glucose or fructose is equally harmful. They simply have chosen to ignore the mountain of scientific evidence that proves fructose has clearly different metabolic pathways than glucose, and is much closer to alcohol with its chronic toxicity profile.
Some Fructose is OK
????????
Remember fructose is not a poison like aluminum or mercury that needs to be avoided at any dose. It is only a poison when you consume it at doses greater than 25 grams per day OR if you have elevated uric acid levels which appear to be a marker for fructose toxicity.
It is possible to safely consume agave or honey but you would have to be very strategic and careful about it. First you would have to eliminate ALL other sources of fructose in your diet, (fruits, fruit juices, sodas, most processed foods) and then restrict your dose to less than 40 grams of agave per day, which is less than three tablespoons. Anything more than that would put you over the 25 grams-per-day limit, at which fructose toxicity begins.
What the agave and HFCS industry seem to completely ignore is that we have two epidemics in the US that are directly related to fructose consumption: obesity and diabetes. The largest source of calories in the US is from fructose.
For most Americans, fructose can act like a poison. However, if you are healthy, normal weight, do not have diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, then you certainly can enjoy fructose in moderation and it will cause you no harm or damage.
Here's the biggie!
Similar to Tobacco Industry Misinformation
This blatant misrepresentation of scientific truth reminds me of the same nonsense that the tobacco industry spouted. Up until the 90s they were vigorously denying that tobacco was addictive or increased the risk of cancer.
Of course, today nearly everyone realizes that this is utter nonsense.
This is an atrocious misrepresentation. Hopefully we won't have to follow the tobacco model and wait decades and engage in many class action law suits before we see change.
You can simply vote with your wallet and choose safer sweeteners like stevia or glucose (dextrose). This will avoid the need of any type of government intervention and will force industry to adjust their practices to meet the educated consumer demand.
**************************************
Is Xylitol Safe or Effective?
According to a study conducted in 1977, consuming 1.4 ounces of Xylitol per day will cause diarrhea in many subjects. Xylitol, like most sugar alcohols, can have a laxative effect, because sugar alcohols are not fully broken down during digestion. The Xylitol.org web site sates, "In the amounts needed to prevent tooth decay (less than 15 grams per day), xylitol is safe for everyone." 15 grams of xylitol is about 0.5 ounces. What about doses over 15 grams?
Xylitol - What is it?
Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar substitute. Xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms. It can be extracted from corn fibre, birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose but with only two-thirds the food energy.
Xylitol was first derived from Birch trees in Finland in the 19th century and was first popularized in Europe as a safe sweetener for diabetics that would not impact insulin levels. Today, using maize sources, most world supplies reportedly come from China. Xylitol is widely used in Finland, its "home country". Many Finnish confectioneries employ xylitol, or have a xylitol version available. Virtually all chewing gum sold in Finland, and in the rest of Europe, is sweetened with xylitol.
Properties
One teaspoon (5 mL) of xylitol contains 9.6 calories, as compared to one teaspoon of sugar, which has 15 calories. Xylitol contains zero net effective carbohydrates, whereas sugar contains 4 grams per 5 mL. Xylitol has virtually no aftertaste, and is advertised as "safe for diabetics and individuals with hyperglycemia". This is because sugar-alcohols have less impact on a person's blood sugar than regular sugars.
But before you jump to any conclusions - read on.
How is Xylitol Made?
A search of patents online explains one of the processes for making xylitol, You begin with some source material containing xylan. One commonly used source is corn imported from China. (Does this sound healthy to you ?)
1. First the xylan needs to be broken down by a process called acid hydrolyzing. This process leaves us with xylose and acetic acid. Then the process of hydrogenation is carried out at higher pressures and temperatures ranging from 158 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. Hydrogenation needs a catalyst, so a substance called Raney nickel can be used which is a powdered nickel-aluminium alloy.
2. The acetic acid needs to be removed as the material safety data sheet (MSDS) describes it as, "Very hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Hazardous in case of skin contact (corrosive, permeator), of eye contact (corrosive)."
3. Then the hydrolyzing acid and organic residues must be removed, this is done by heating the mixture and evaporating it.
4. The resulting syrup, hopefully now free of acetic acid, hydrolyzing acid, nick-aluminum and other residues.
5. The syrup is crystallized by stirring ethanol into it.
6. The crystalline xylitol is now separated in a centrifuge from the ethanol and from the sorbitol remaining in solution.
7. You now have xylitol.
Health Claims
It is obvious that xylitol, in addition to killing bacteria, will probably kill just about anything or anyone. This clearly explains why it is only recommended to be used in small doses. Yet if you go to a health food store, you will see larger sized bags of xylitol on the shelf, promoting its many health uses.
Health Concerns
In lab tests, xylitol will kill a rat 50% of the time in a dosage of 16.5 grams of xylitol for every 1000 grams of rat. Medium rats weigh 100-120 grams, or say .25 pounds. That means, to kill a 100 gram rat, you need only to get the rat to consume, 1.65 grams of xylitol.
A typical xylitol piece of gum contains .7 – 1 gram of xylitol. About half the amount needed to kill a rat. One study states that humans consumed up to 400 grams of xylitol per day without any ill health effects. It is hard to believe that such a study is accurate in comparison to the lab tests done as indicated on the material safety data sheets. If 1.65 grams can kill a rat, consuming 400 grams would be highly toxic to humans.
More concern is that there seems to be no long term safety data about the long term health effects of regularly consuming xylitol. The data sheets state the following:
"Epidemiology: No information found
Teratogenicity: No information found
Reproductive Effects: No information found
Mutagenicity: No information found
Neurotoxicity: No information found"
Critics will claim that lethal doses on material data sheets are not conclusive proof. But you must ask yourself this question, has xylitol been proven conclusively to be safe or effective?
What About the Cavity Fighting Power?
Assume you don't mind your liver being poisoned or the diarrhea side effects that are possible from xylitol gum or mints, because you want to fight the cavities. You would assume that there is a huge body of evidence showing that xylitol prevents cavities, think again. An article published in the Journal of the American Dental Association in 2006 volume 137, states, "Some studies claimed that xylitol-sweetened gum had an anticariogenic effect, though these claims need further study." This article basically says that any evidence that xylitol sweetened gums stops cavities is not conclusive and requires further study.
Conclusions About Xylitol
Xylitol is a processed sugar. After being hydrogenated and having toxic chemicals added to xylan mostly from Chinese corn or other plant material, and then removed, you get xylitol. For anyone who wants to be healthy, the first thing that is pretty much unanimous about any diet or protocol to restore your health, is that you need to avoid processed sugars. While there are a variety of opinions on what foods to eat in replacement of processed sugar, it is blatantly clear that processed sugars, like xylitol, are extremely harmful to humans. Perhaps, xylitol has special uses in special cases; as a regular part of your diet, it is clearly a poor idea.There are much safer choices like Stevia or Raw, Organic Honey in small quantities. [WRONG]
Xylitol might inhibit bacteria growth, but so does white sugar. Xylitol's dirty little secret is that even in moderate doses of larger than 15 grams, (approximately 3 teaspoons), xylitol's own promotional material says it is not safe for everyone to use. Children being smaller and less developed than adults, will obviously be much more sensitive to xylitol's effects.
The way to prevent and control cavities is not with a processed sugar chewing gum or mint, but rather with a good diet. A good diet that is capable of preventing cavities is generally low in sugar, and high in absorbable vitamins and minerals, particularly fat-soluble vitamins in foods like avocado, coconut, wheat germ, and healthy sea foods.
If you want healthy teeth and gums, you need to avoid processed sugar's like xylitol. Avoiding other processed foods like processed sugar, white flour and other foods not made from freshly ground grains, cheap low quality vegetable oils, soft drinks and artificial flavors and preservatives, soy milk, pasteurized milk, and other non-organic, non-wholesome foods will help increase your immunity to cavities. Also bruch your teeth regularly and floss to remove plaque and food particles.
There is no short cut to good wholesome
whole and organic foods for health.
It is quite clear that xylitol is not safe or healthy.
AGAVE WORSE THAN HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP ?
Many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer "natural" sweetener. They want to avoid well documented dangerous sweeteners like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but are unaware that most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS.
A number of natural agave manufacturers and health conscious consumers still proclaim agave is a safe, all-natural sweetener that is good for everyone.
We recommend other options such as stevia products. You can also use xylitol in small amounts or glucose, which is sold commercially as dextrose, and can easily be purchased on Amazon for $1 per pound. we do not sell any of these products.
Our only purpose for sharing this information is to help people understand the truth about health. In case you haven't noticed, we have an epidemic of obesity in the US and it wasn't until recently that my eyes opened up to the primary cause -- fructose.
Yes, it is all about freedom of choice. It is hard to have freedom if you aren't given the entire story, and up until now that has been the case with agave.
Are Natural Agave Products Any Better?
The three products sent off to the lab were:
1. NOW Foods Organic Amber Agave Nectar
2. Madhava Agave Nectar
3. Wholesome Sweetener Organic Blue Agave
There was no particular reason these three brands, other than they are the products advertised and heard mentioned most often by agave syrup users.
And the Winner is: None of the Above!
The results support the point that they are ALL quite high in fructose, ranging from 59 to 67 grams of fructose per 100-gram sample.
It is important to note that high fructose corn syrup has 55 percent fructose. As you can see below, every one of these products far exceeded the fructose in high fructose corn syrup by considerable amounts.
The other variable that needs to be considered is whether or not the fructose is conjugated to glucose or another sugar molecule, as this would moderate the detrimental effects of fructose somewhat.
High fructose corn syrup fructose is 55 percent free floating fructose totally dissociated from glucose. This is also the case in nearly all the lower quality agave products as they are highly processed. Some of the higher quality agave products may be processed in a way that preserves the fructose bonding and thus somewhat limits its damage.
We did not test for fructose conjugation in our test, but even if it were, the Wholesome Sweetener Organic Blue Agave had 21 percent more fructose than high fructose corn syrup.
(Chart here: _http://altmedsales.com/index.php?target=pages&page_id=xilitol)
Fructose is Fructose
We are fully convinced that if we can educate the public about how fructose is different from other sugars metabolically, we can actually reverse and eventually eliminate the obesity epidemic. We would encourage those of you who remain doubtful that fructose is any worse than any other sugar to look at the work done by Dr. Richard Johnson, chief of the kidney disease and hypertension department at the University of Colorado, and author of The Sugar Fix, one of the best books on the market on the health dangers of fructose—specifically, how fructose causes high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and kidney disease.
One of the surprising facts according to Dr. Johnson is how detrimental the impact of fructose is on your uric acid level.
For those of you who maintain that "a sugar is a sugar is a sugar," fructose -- and fructose ALONE -- drives up uric acid. The connection between fructose, uric acid, hypertension, insulin resistance/diabetes and kidney disease is so clear that your uric acid level can be used as a marker for toxicity from fructose.
According to Dr. Johnson:
If you doubt fructose is the leading contributor to obesity, then we urge you to watch an excellent video presentation by Dr. Robert H. Lustig, M.D. of the University of California San Francisco, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, which masterfully illustrates just exactly HOW the liver's breakdown of fructose leads to obesity and chronic disease.
Much of the fructose you eat is literally stored as fat. The carbohydrate fructose is converted into fatty acids (lipogenesis), which is then stored in your body's fat cells as fat.
It largely boils down to a quantity issue.
You need to keep your daily dose of ALL fructose down to below 25 grams per day. Additionally, you can use your blood uric acid level as a marker of sensitivity to fructose. If your uric acid level is above 4 mg/dl for men and 3.5 mg/dl for women, you are probably better off avoiding fructose in most forms.
We have nothing against the agave plant.
Like many plants, the agave undoubtedly has many different phytochemicals with health-supporting properties. The problem lies in the processing, which, like any food processing, destroys most of these nutrients. Obviously, branded products undergo different amounts and types of processing, under different temperatures, etc.
What you're left with, then, is a high-fructose syrup, similar metabolically to high fructose corn syrup in terms of metabolic impact. Regardless of the organic-ness, regardless of the care taken in processing, regardless of the overall quality -- agave syrup is mostly fructose. Plain and simple.
But even this is not a problem, IF your syrup is free of chemicals, and IF you are using it in very small quantities, and IF you have no issues such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, kidney or heart disease.
Unfortunately, most people cannot satisfy all those IFs.
If you are diabetic or insulin resistant, you'll want to avoid these concentrated sugars altogether, regardless of the product quality.
If you are among the fortunate few without any of those health problems, congratulations! You're definitely doing something right. Just keep your overall fructose usage below 25 grams per day, agave syrup included. One teaspoon of agave syrup has 4 grams of fructose.
Naturally, agave syrup brands are going to differ quite a bit in quality, as all products do. If you are going to use it, you'll have to judge for yourself what is true quality versus marketing hype.
Agave's Favorable Glycemic Index is Meaningless
The fact that agave has a favorable glycemic index (GI) is often mentioned in its defense. But GI does not tell the entire story.
Agave syrup and other high-fructose sweeteners have metabolic consequences that aren't measured by an immediate insulin spike. This is why I have never advocated using the GI to select your foods.
It is possible to have a low fasting glucose yet have significantly elevated insulin levels.
In fact, some people with particularly robust insulin responses actually have very normal blood glucose levels because their insulin suppresses blood glucose for some time. If this is going on, you are essentially pre-diabetic and should reduce or eliminate fructose altogether. But you would never know it by just spot-checking your blood sugar after consuming a dose of agave syrup!
On the topic of agave, Dr. Johnson made the following recommendation:
Honey is better than agave for the simple reason that the benefits of raw, organic honey have been scientifically established. And the honey recommended is whole, raw and unprocessed. But use the same caution with honey as with agave syrup -- if you are fructose sensitive, you should be minimizing it or avoiding it altogether since it is also 70 percent fructose.
Isn't that kinda like talking out of both sides of the mouth at once? And above, they go on about xylitol, and then a little further down, recommend it. Now they are saying honey is okay even though it is higher in fructose that HFCS??? Plus they recommend whole grains which are deadly???
So, keep your dose below 25 grams of TOTAL fructose from all sources per day, and reduce this amount if you are sensitive to fructose.
How do you know if you are fructose sensitive?
Have your uric acid level checked. Your uric acid level should be about 4.0 mg/dl if you are a man or 3.5 mg/dl if you are a woman.
Busting Mythbusting Myths
Unfortunately, myths are being perpetuated -- not busted here such as seeking to confuse people that there is really a clinical difference between fructans and inulin, the form of starch that agave initially stores fructose in.
Simply speaking inulin is a fructose polymer in which the fructose molecules are interconnected. This is clearly better than free floating fructose that is present in HFCS or many lower quality agaves, but once you swallow the inulin your body will rapidly convert it to fructose, so ultimately, you will still receive a similar amount of fructose. You are not somehow 'magically" protected from the fructose because it is initially complexed as fructose polymer.
They also state that agave nectar does not contribute to liver inflammation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, or obesity. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is shocking that the FTC doesn't come down on them like a ton of bricks for false advertising.
The evidence is BEYOND clear. There are loads of studies establishing that when you consume fructose in the high levels that are typically consumed by most Americans, your risk for all of these diseases dramatically increases.
Where are the studies that ANY of this is based on? The links to them??
What agave and HFCS manufacturers FAIL to tell you is that the AVERAGE American is consuming 70 grams per day.
While individuals may be able to tolerate larger doses of a complexed fructose polymer like inulin, ultimately it is broken down to fructose and they will need to metabolically address this sugar, which at doses typically consumed is a metabolic poison.
Most agave producers spout nearly identical garbage that the HFCS industry claims, They would have you believe that there really is no difference between glucose and fructose.
They claim that consuming large amounts of glucose or fructose is equally harmful. They simply have chosen to ignore the mountain of scientific evidence that proves fructose has clearly different metabolic pathways than glucose, and is much closer to alcohol with its chronic toxicity profile.
Some Fructose is OK
????????
Remember fructose is not a poison like aluminum or mercury that needs to be avoided at any dose. It is only a poison when you consume it at doses greater than 25 grams per day OR if you have elevated uric acid levels which appear to be a marker for fructose toxicity.
It is possible to safely consume agave or honey but you would have to be very strategic and careful about it. First you would have to eliminate ALL other sources of fructose in your diet, (fruits, fruit juices, sodas, most processed foods) and then restrict your dose to less than 40 grams of agave per day, which is less than three tablespoons. Anything more than that would put you over the 25 grams-per-day limit, at which fructose toxicity begins.
What the agave and HFCS industry seem to completely ignore is that we have two epidemics in the US that are directly related to fructose consumption: obesity and diabetes. The largest source of calories in the US is from fructose.
For most Americans, fructose can act like a poison. However, if you are healthy, normal weight, do not have diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, then you certainly can enjoy fructose in moderation and it will cause you no harm or damage.
Here's the biggie!
Similar to Tobacco Industry Misinformation
This blatant misrepresentation of scientific truth reminds me of the same nonsense that the tobacco industry spouted. Up until the 90s they were vigorously denying that tobacco was addictive or increased the risk of cancer.
Of course, today nearly everyone realizes that this is utter nonsense.
This is an atrocious misrepresentation. Hopefully we won't have to follow the tobacco model and wait decades and engage in many class action law suits before we see change.
You can simply vote with your wallet and choose safer sweeteners like stevia or glucose (dextrose). This will avoid the need of any type of government intervention and will force industry to adjust their practices to meet the educated consumer demand.
