Agave Syrup – Is It Good For You
Agave syrup (also known as agave nectar), long since used to make products with less than desirable health effects (like tequila), is actually very sweet, much sweeter than sugar. Due to the smaller volumes required to sweeten something to the same level of sweetness, in addition to a few other factors, a few companies have made claims that agave syrup is a natural sugar substitute for diabetics. However, is it really better than sugar for diabetics?
As it turns out, the path to the answer is through a little bit of science. Just a little bit, I promise! It just so happens that normal table sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Fructose sugars have a much slower absorption rate into the body, which makes it tend to increase obesity problems more than glucose sugars when consumed in large quantities, but it also helps diabetics because the sugar can be sent through their system at a slower rate, preventing dangerous spikes.
Agave syrup, in contrast to table sugar, is often 10% glucose and 90% fructose, which results in a low glycemic index. One of the main problems is that certain variants of agave nectar have 55% fructose and 45% glucose, which is only a little bit better than normal sugar for a diabetic. In fact, there is another sweetener with the same distribution of glucose and fructose; high fructose corn syrup. It really isn’t good enough.
Keep in mind that agave syrup has just as many calories per ounce that table sugar does. However, agave syrup is a lot sweeter than standard table sugar, so less of it can be used to attain the same level of sweetness, which, of course, reduces the amount of sugar being consumed.
So, is agave syrup better for diabetics than sugar? If you can manage to get the right kind, it can be. However, it is still a sugar, so its benefits are limited. In addition to that, since agave syrup fructose and glucose concentrations can vary, it only serves to emphasize that diabetics should be researching what exactly they are heating, especially since consuming large amounts of something you think is healthy when it isn’t can be quite dangrerous.
While I have covered a fair amount of information, you should always do more research on anything like agave syrup before deciding if it is good or bad for diabetics. As always, whenever you try anything new, especially substitutes for sugar, you should monitor your blood sugar level especially closely in case your body does not react to it the way you thought it would. Good luck, and watch what you eat!
