So one once told me "everything in moderation", well a health nut friend of mine was telling me all about the wonders of Agave sweetener, so I have been trying some this week and have had the WORSE pain in my abdominal. Like when I have eaten too much HFCS laden food, which I have pretty much cut out, to give my liver a break. So I have been doing some research, and have come to find out that "Agave can have a lot of fructose, around 90 percent (Sugar is 50 percent fructose, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 55 percent). The problem with taking in a lot of fructose is that your body must convert it to glucose in the liver, but if you have too much, it gets stored as fat. Fructose is correlated with increased blood triglyceride levels, heart disease, and insulin resistance..." ( http://health.howstuffworks.com/... )
Since I have cut out almost all HFCS from my diet, no small feat I might add, my triglycerides have gone to normal levels without medication now. for me, unless I get it in the form of fresh fruit, I am steering clear of Fructose as a sweetener, be it Corn Syrup, HFCS, or Agape, I will stick to Sucrose, which is metabolized in every cell in the body not just in my overworked liver.
So I have now read all sorts of pro/against Agave pieces, and I just want to say, not in my Liver, please! I take so many prescription drugs that my blood must be a stew of shit that my liver must filter out. HFCS and Agave increase the load, and this was causing me pain. It make sense to me why the mexican growers of blue agave from which Agave comes want us to believe that it is the cure all and end all in sweeteners, but it is sweetener commercially produced from several species of agave, including Agave tequilana (blue agave), and it the PERFECT use of the waste product of the Tequila market turning waste into yet another profit product.
Since the 70's the commercial food makers have been using things NOT good for us like Salt, Sugar, and Fat to hook us on their products, agave is just another tool now in their arsenal. Micheal Moss in his book Salt, Sugar, and Fat does a good job of uncovering the conspiracy of the processed food maker, and the fattening of America.
HFCS, and now Agave cause me great pain in my abdomen, so much so that I have had to cut out all HFCS from my diet. Agape had the same effect, so while the people in white coats argue over the pros and cons of this sweetener, I am not going to trust what the commercial processed food folks tell me, and instead am going to listen to the cries and screams of my body, NO AGAVE PLEASE!
Wait tell you hear my rant into the CRACK of food, -or- what they have done to WHEAT!
8:37 AM PT: Well there are lots of great ideas in the comments. Agave, (95% Fructose) is supposed to be the next "thing" but the effects of eating large amounts of Fructose are well known. Yet again a corporation is trying to turn waste into profit, giving us something bad for us, and something we don't need.