Agave, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Fructose, Sucralose, Glucose, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEEEEANNANNANNANN?!?!
Sweeteners come in MANY forms, the health pros and cons are heavily debated, but the
IMPORTANT thing is what happens when you get them into your body.
Agave nectar and high-fructose corn syrup are two heavy hitters in these debates, so
which is worse?
Or better?
Well before we go down the "which one" rabbit hole let's explain how the sweetness affects
you.
Sugar is a carbohydrate, which means it's a chain of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen; their
chemical names usually end OSE.
Sucrose, Sucralose, Glucose, Fructose…
Glucose is a simple sugar, plants make it as a byproduct of photosynthesis.
Fructose, is also a simple sugar, it naturally occurs in fruits and is also found in honey,
sugar cane, corn (obviously), and so on.
The real debate comes down to fructose.
When you eat a simple sugar like glucose, your body knows what to do.
That stuff comes from plants!
It's natural!
Your body can actually CREATE it if it wants.
When you eat enough, your brain tells your body -- "We're good.
Stop with the sugars!"
Fructose, doesn't do that.
It's sneakier.
It doesn't tell the body to release insulin, it doesn't tell the brain to cool it.
This is why we can consume huge amounts of this sweetener.
Where glucose can be converted right to energy, fructose has to trek all the way to the liver.
By the time it gets there, your body will probably metabolize it into fat instead.
Regular table sugar is 50-50 glucose to fructose.
High-fructose corn syrup is 45-55 glucose to fructose… not too shabby.
I mean, it's definitely more, but not as much as I would have thought.
It's called HIGH-fructose, because corn syrup doesn't contain ANY naturally.
Scientists in the 50s figured out how to add enzymes to the syrup to convert it to 55-percent
fructose.
Agave nectar on the other hand?
It can have as much as 90 percent fructose.
10 percent glucose.
If you're nervous about high-fructose corn syrup, by comparison agave is a frickin' bomb.
When agave is marketed, it's usually called healthy and natural, which may be true.
Not all agave nectars are produced the same way, but they're all processed.
Agave is heated and then enzymes are added to bring out the right profile.
At the end of the day it's usually a man-made fructose sweetener.
Why is fructose bad?
It's not.
Too much is bad, but a little isn't going to hurt you in the least.
The problem is, sugar is in everything these days, candy bars and milkshakes, sure, but
also the beef, bun, ketchup, soda, AND the fries at America's favorite fast food places
-- there's sugar in literally the entire meal.
Agave might not be bad either, you can add a lot less to get the same sweet taste, but
you're basically consuming pure fructose, so go easy on it.
If you want to reduce the amount of fructose, specifically, don't cut out eating fruit.
Fruit contains vitamins and fibers, unlike fructose syrup.
Don't overdo it, make sure you mix your fruits with EVEN MORE vegetables.
In the end, the "who's worse" battle isn't really settleable.
High-fructose corn syrup IS highly manufactured, nutritionally meh, but agave is also manufactured
and similarly nutritionally meh.
Sugar should be consumed sparingly regardless, but if you pay attention to the OSE, you can't
miss it.