Is agave syrup healthy?

When looking for alternatives to sugar to sweeten drinks and meals, we have a wide variety of natural or natural sweeteners at our fingertips. Agave syrup is one of them, but is not without controversy. It has long been proposed as a healthy alternative to sugar for people with diabetes or who want to follow a low-calorie diet, and also as a healthy vegan alternative to honey, but in recent years more and more experts warn that it is not everything in the agave syrup is as “sweet” as they paint it and, in fact, it is contraindicated in case of diabetes.

What is the problem? Well, just as its low glycemic index makes it suitable as a sugar substitute to avoid a rapid increase in blood glucose levels, its richness in fructose could prove counterproductive in the long term if its consumption is abused. But let’s go step by step: let’s see what exactly is agave syrup and what are its advantages and disadvantages.

What is agave syrup?

Agave syrup is a sweetener that is widely used to sweeten all kinds of drinks and dishes. It is also known as agave nectar or agave honey, but it is actually a syrup.

It is obtained from the juice of several species of agave, mainly from the blue agave or Agave tequiliana, the same Mexican plant with which tequila is made. The juice is extracted from the trunk, which is cut after letting the plant grow for at least 7 years, in order to be able to use it.

In the case of tequila, that juice is later fermented. To make the agave syrup, is subjected to a temperature of about 70 ºC for hours. Unlike what happens with other syrups, which are also obtained by heating the juice of the plant to concentrate its sugars, in the case of agave syrup this process is prolonged to break down your carbohydrates, mainly inulin, into fructose. This process is what is known as “hydrolysis” and it is what allows the agave syrup to acquire all its sweetening power.

But not all agave syrups are the same:

exist raw agave syrups, to obtain the juice of the plant is processed at 37ºC to minimize the loss of nutrients. In them, the juice is also treated until the inulin is hydrolyzed, so the result is also a rich fructose syrup. If you look closely, you will find dark and light agave syrups. After hydrolyzing the inulin, the agave syrup is filtered to a greater or lesser degree to remove impurities. The color depends on the level of filtering. Dark agave syrup has a more powerful flavor and more trace minerals and vitamins; it is usually used in desserts, often as a topping. The clear agave syrup is milder and is usually recommended more for dishes in which it does not matter that its flavor is marked so much.

in his book sweet and healthythe nutritionist Mercedes Blasco warns that, on the other hand, in the hydrolysis process they are often used genetically modified enzymes to speed up the process and that agave syrup is sometimes adulterated with high fructose corn syrup.

Agave syrup is, therefore, a sweetener of natural origin, but its production process can make it a highly refined productpractically devoid of all the nutrients that we find in the agave plant.

Advantages of agave syrup

Agave syrup has long been recommended as a healthy alternative to sugar. This is due to its two main advantages:

Agave syrup is considered can sweeten 1.5 times more than sugar, so in general you need to use less to get the same sweetness.

So even though agave syrup contains more calories than sugar (21 calories per teaspoon instead of 16), It is considered useful as a sweetener when you want to reduce calorie intake. And it is that, if what it is about is counting calories, its use could compensate slightly.

The glycemic index helps us understand how a food affects blood glucose levels. The higher, the faster glucose levels rise after eating a meal. Just as sugar has a high glycemic index (GI 70), agave syrup is one of the lowest glycemic index natural sweeteners (GI 20). It is a lower glycemic index than sweeteners like coconut sugar (GI 35) or maple syrup (GI 54).

If we look at the glycemic load, another indicator of how food affects blood glucose that takes into account the usual serving of that food, agave syrup also comes out well: it has a glycemic load of 1.23 compared to 5.43 for whole sugar.

This is because sugar is mostly sucrose, while agave syrup contains mostly fructose (up to 90%). Fructose does not trigger blood glucose levels, hence the agave syrup has been recommended in the past to people with diabetes as a substitute for sugar. However, recent studies suggest otherwise due to its long-term effects, as we will see later.

The agave syrup still has other advantages from the culinary point of view. As it has a semi-liquid consistency and dissolves very well, it is very easy to incorporate into infusions and recipes. It also has a pleasant taste, both in the dark and light versions.

Why is it questioned that it is so healthy?

There are different qualities of agave syrup, depending on how the production process is taken care of, which determines its final composition. But it can contain up to 90% fructosemore than almost any other sweetener, including the high fructose corn syrup used in sodas and sugary drinks.

Fructose is a natural sugar found present in fruits but in these it is found in much more moderate amounts and accompanied by other important nutrients that moderate its effect and also nourish the body, such as fiber and good amounts of vitamins and minerals.

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver. and, when products rich in fructose are abused, the liver easily converts it into liver fat. We are talking about consuming fructose as free sugar, that is, consuming foods or drinks sweetened with fructose or sweetening our dishes with sweeteners rich in fructose, such as agave syrup. Following a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is not only not counterproductive but desirable.

In the long run, moreover, studies indicate that this excessive consumption of fructose, like that of other sugars, can increase triglyceride levels and affect insulin resistance.

Fructose, like sucrose, is also considered harmful to dental health. Reduces the pH of dental plaque and promotes demineralization.

On the other hand, we must not forget that agave syrup, like other syrups, it is still rich in sugar (fructose is a sugar) and that diets high in sugar have been associated with weight gain and a wide variety of health problems. For this reason, regularly consuming agave syrup or other syrups or molasses can also be not recommended if the quantities are abused.

How to use agave syrup

If we choose to use agave syrup, experts therefore recommend making a very moderate use. We can also opt for other syrups or molasses that are lower in fructose and less refined, without forgetting that they should not be abused either. In any case, choose an organically produced agave syrup, free of pesticides and artificial additives.

Agave syrup can replace honey in drinks, infusions and recipes.

To replace sugar you will have to make some modifications in pastry recipesslightly reducing the amount of syrup and increasing the liquid part.

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