Why agave nectar?

Note: Before you decide to use or not use agave nectar in your diet…you might want to listen to two excellent presentations about fructose (which agave nectar is very high in).  After listening to these presentations, I no longer use agave nectar myself.

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As Dr. Servan-Schreiber says: “cancer feeds on sugar.” [page 71, Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, David, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, 2009 edition] In other words, the less sugar, the less food for cancer cells to grow on…and that’s certainly a good thing!

When I want a little sweetness in my food, I usually use a little agave nectar, and here’s why:

• Agave nectar is three times sweeter than white sugar.

• Agave nectar has a lower glycemic index than sugar (white table sugar) or honey, which means that it doesn’t cause as much of a rise in blood sugar as sugar or honey… and that means that there’s less sugar in the blood to feed the cancer cells (that we all have in our bodies).

Agave Nectar and Other Sweeteners – Glycemic Index

Note: A food with a glycemix index of less than 55 is considered to have a LOW glycemic index.

FOOD	GLYCEMIC INDEX
Agave nectar	15-21
Honey (not including acacia honey)	60-80
Acacia honey	30
Coconut sugar (a crystalline sugar)	35
Sucrose (table sugar) – a combination of glucose and fructose	60-80
Glucose (a component of many natural sweeteners)	100

Sources for glycemic index data in table:
• Official Home of the Glycemic Index and GI Database
• page 71, Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, David, Anticancer, A New Way of Life, 2009 edition

Agave nectar – Is it safe to consume?

Made from the sap of a desert cactus plant (the same cactus plant that’s used to make tequila), agave nectar is perfectly safe to use in small quantities. But like any other caloric sweeteners, agave nectar provides calories without any beneficial nutrients. While there are articles on the web saying that agave nectar is not safe, I feel that there is nothing to worry about. Drs. Servan-Screiber and Andrew Weil are both OK with agave nectar for the general population (but perhaps not for pregnant women).

For more about the safety of agave nectar, see Andrew Weil, MD’s website.

Where to buy agave nectar?

I’ve seen organic agave nectar at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Costcio. It’s pretty expensive, but since you are going to use it in small quantities, so it’s not that costly.

Monamifood Recipes that use agave nectar….

The Monamifood Blueberry Muffins contain sugar and also a little agave nectar.  When I was developing this recipe, I tried to cut back on the brown sugar, while maintaining the level of sweetness that my family liked, so I added a little agave nectar. Of course, the agave nectar added a little more liquid, so I had to cut back on the skim milk. That’s the kind of juggling you can do as you take your favorite recipes and try to make them better-for-you.

For more information about the glycemic index…

• Official Home of the Glycemic Index and GI Database
• Low Glycemic Index diet (Baptist Health Systems)
• WebMD re Glycemic Index
• For an in-depth explanation of the glycemic index and glycemic load concept and calculations, see David Mendosa’s website.
• For a list of foods and their glycemic index, see another page on Mendosa’s website.

Enjoy and be healthy!

Leni