Agave Nectar

jfatheree78
jfatheree78 Posts: 78 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I've been hearing all this stuff about agave nectar and how it's supposed to better for you than sugar. I went to create a recipe switching out the sugar for agave nectar and saw that it has an almost identical amount of calories. So what's so good about agave and why should I use that instead of sugar?

Replies

  • FullMetalWitch
    FullMetalWitch Posts: 11 Member
    Agave nectar is a source of great hilarity amongst myself and nutritionist friends. We convulse with laughter every time somebody offers us a dessert that's "healthy because it's made with agave nectar!"

    It's basically high fructose corn syrup with a vegan stamp of approval. Fructose is fine when it comes with the whole fruit, but extracted and condensed on its own it's a perfect storm of metabolic impairment waiting to happen.

    EDIT: I apologize if that sounded like a knee-jerk opinion. Here's some clearer information!

    "A recent study found that while stuff like honey, molasses, and maple syrup all contain significant amounts of antioxidants that potentially mitigate the metabolic damage wrought by the sugar therein, agave nectar – along with refined sugar and corn syrup – has almost none. Even raw cane sugar beat agave nectar out in the antioxidant category." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19103324)
  • Muskiecat
    Muskiecat Posts: 7
    Here's an interesting page about Agave. It states that it has a lower glycemic index than sugar. http://www.allaboutagave.com/agave-vs-granular.php
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,785 Member
    I have some...only used it a couple of times and it's pretty nasty in my opinion. Won't use it again. It'll just sit there
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    It's basically high fructose corn syrup with a vegan stamp of approval. Fructose is fine when it comes with the whole fruit, but extracted and condensed on its own it's a perfect storm of metabolic impairment waiting to happen.
    Its funny you say that because every vegan food blog I visit seems to worship Agave Nectar. I prefer to use bananas, applesauce, Stevia, Lo Han Guo and Erythritol if I need "sugar" for a recipe.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    I'm a vegan (well, almost) and I've never tried it. If you're a true vegan you'll use agave to replace honey. It also doesn't cause as much of a blood glucose spike as other sugars.

    I don't think there's anything wrong with it as such, and I certainly wouldn't mock people for using it, vegans or not.
  • mmarcy7
    mmarcy7 Posts: 227 Member
    I've noticed it in a lot of gluten free foods, which had me thinking there was something better about it than plain sugar. Then I did some research and found out the truth. I have no idea why it's all the rage all of a sudden. I bought some gluten free, sugar free cook books and its all recipes using agave. I try to stick to stevia or honey if anything.
  • jfatheree78
    jfatheree78 Posts: 78 Member
    Ok, so I can take away from all of your comments that perhaps unless you are diabetic, agave nectar is no better than sugar. Thank you all. =) So now if I am trying to replace sugar in a recipe (muffins) and don't want to use an artificial sweetener, what are the best options?
  • Audddua
    Audddua Posts: 176 Member
    Ok, so I can take away from all of your comments that perhaps unless you are diabetic, agave nectar is no better than sugar. Thank you all. =) So now if I am trying to replace sugar in a recipe (muffins) and don't want to use an artificial sweetener, what are the best options?

    Use RIPE bananas and natural applesauce (you can cut out some of the butter/shortening too this way. I don't have an exact measurement for you - I just wing it.

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