Agave nectar (often also called agave syrup) has been making the rounds lately as a natural, low glycemic options for those with a sweet tooth.  Most of the data, however, that makes this stuff look good is derived from the pre-processed agave plant, not from the finished product in a bottle that people purchase as a sugar substitute.

All that good stuff?  Basically gone after processing.  What’s left?  A product akin to high fructose corn syrup with all of the evils of HFCS and none of the advantages of agave.

In fact, agave may be worse.  The commercial product of agave syrup will have a 15-42% higher fructose content than HFCS will.  That’s not insignificant by any means.

The problem isn’t that fructose in bad (in its natural form, it’s great), but that these super-high concentrations of it and the high rate of ingestion that is the problem.  Although science doesn’t recognize the difference, the fructose in agave and HFCS is lab-made (not nature-made) and has none of the fibre, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, etc. that are naturally occurring in agave and fruits.

Another problem with high concentrations of fructose?  Almost all of it goes to the liver for processing and most of that ends up being made into fats.

So agave is definitely not all it’s cracked up to be.