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I have yet to see the results of a single clinical trial on the consumption of Agave Nectar as an ingredient or a table-top sweetener that supports any of these claims: "Agave syrup has been marketed as a "healthful" sweetener, but this fact has been the subject of criticism due to its very high fructose content (which is even more than high fructose corn syrup in its fructose content by weight) and its potential to lead to insulin resistance and significantly increased triglyceride levels (a risk factor for heart disease)." My point is that fructose in excessive amounts may be linked to these health issues but is there ANY evidence that consumption of fructose on the scale of consumption that one might associate with sweetening tea or coffee, as an ingredient sweetener in a variety of common foods would result in a deleterious effect? One might make the same arguments about consuming fruit juices of any kind. In the mid-nineties I initiated the preparation of a self-affirmation GRAS report on Agave Nectar; we enlisted the professional services of a well known toxicology and regulatory agency called The Weinberg Group. It is interesting to note that not a single commercial manufacturer or distributor of Agave Nectar has shown interest in completing this report. Furthermore none of these companies has dedicated any funding to genuine and comprehensive clinical trials on consumption. And finally, there are massive inconsistencies with respect to basic information about the method processing and the glycemic index associated with Agave Nectar. In short, there is little or no RELIABLE science available on the subject. Feel free to contact me should you care to discuss these issues. I have been involved in the commercial development of Agave syrups since 1995. See our website at www.agavenectar.com. Sabra Van Dolsen, President and CEO of The Colibree Company, Inc.
[3][4]==Sources (or lack thereof) for health claims in article== Anybody want to say what the constituents (sugars & sweet tasting substances in particular). I had a bit of look around on the web but the suggestion seems to be that some are adulterated with sugars not naturally found in agave. Is there an expert who can write some info on this. I ask for this in particular reference to diabetic and low GI/GL diets. 212.32.87.199 13:48, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
"Nutritionally and functionally, agave syrup is similar to high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose (Karo) syrup."
"...the American Diabetes Association lists agave along with other sweeteners (table sugar, honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, maple sugar, and confectioner’s sugar) that should be limited in diabetic diets."
source: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-agave?page=1
"According to Bianchi, agave “nectar” and HFCS “are indeed made the same way, using a highly chemical process dependent on genetically modified enzymes". The manufacturing process also calls for caustic acids, clarifiers, filtration chemicals and so forth in the conversion of agave starches. The result is a high level of highly refined fructose in the remaining syrup, along with some remaining inulin."
Source: http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/agave-nectar-worse-than-we-thought
and
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5846333/fulltext.html
--thomas 75.85.116.31 ( talk) 06:55, 18 April 2013 (UTC)
I'll admit, I'm not very computer savy. I thought I had done something wrong when I came back to the site and saw them removed. I thought you were referring to someone from their company adding the links. Who is the one removing mine? Would it be better for them to add the links? I can send them an e-mail to see if they want to add a link. I just thought it would be a good idea since Wikipedia was so high on the search engines for the word agave. If there is a better way or if I'm doing something wrong, let me know.
I contacted Volcanic Nectar and told them they should have an expert make a change on the Agave Syrup page with correct information. For example it says something silly like "the best agave for you is high in fructose." What sense does that make? At what point did more sugar equal healthy? Who wrote that? Anyway, they sent me an e-mail saying they corrected some of the information. When I checked today, I see it has been erased and the old incorrect information has been added back in. Any idea why Badagnani? --—Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.41.189.17 ( talk • contribs)
The best agave syrup for your body must be low in fructose (less than 50%), low in glucose and cannot contain any other sugars. How can the best agave syrup be both low in fructose and glucose if these are both their main constituents? Also, if fructose is less than 50% that means glucose will be near 50%. Given that it is fructose that has a low glycemic index compared to sucrose and glucose, how its percentage being low and glucose relative high be "best" for your body? Alephone 01:47, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
Glucose and fructose are both bad for your body, but there was a time when medical doctors thought fructose might be better for diabetics, before we understood fructose well. Glucose is processed via insulin and increases hyperinsulemia in type 2 diabetics but might not be processed completely in type 1 diabetics. OTOH fructose doesn't raise insulin, but is more likely to be stored as fat and interferes with the appetite-regulating hormones like leptin. I think that as an isolate, glucose might be better because it fits into the feedback mechanisms better but I can't find proof of medical consensus, especially as new research is changing the analysis. That said, isolated sweeteners are not healthy at all and the small amount of levulose (nonrefined levorotatory D fructose with associated compounds) in fruit is a better source. However Alephone, the amount of water affects the "healthiness" of agave syrup, in which case the amount, not the percentage of fructose is important. Ksvaughan2
The USDA database shows Raw Agave (presumably the same as Agave Nectar but I could be wrong) as having a very different Glucose to Fructose ratio than what is stated in this article. Can anyone verify that Raw Agave and Agave Nectar are the same thing? If so, the Composition section of the article may be inaccurate. -- Jlgillam ( talk) 18:55, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
The term Raw Agave is probably aguamiel, which is used as a drink. Agave nectar is a cooked or vacuum processed fluid from the pina which is enzymatically converted to a syrup. Ksvaughan2
The article tells how Agave salmiana is cut to extract the aguamiel, but in fact this can be done with most species of agave (for instance see the Tequila article)and the manufacturer of Madhava Agave Nectar has said in his rebuttal to the Weston A. Price article that they use the piña rootstalk from A. salmiana. See http://alteredplates.blogspot.com/2008/12/madhavas-craig-gerbore-responds-to.html although I don't buy his unsourced information on the relative constituents of blue and salmiana agave on the grounds of common sense.
The description of obtaining aguamiel is different from how agave nectar is made. (The link in the parent Agave article perpetrates this misinformation) Ksvaughan2
Unless they can be substantiated these statements should not be here. NPOV please!
Michael Fourman 05:58, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
OK, you guys exhausted my patience - any more reverting and the article gets protected. Work out an agreement on the talk page, that's what it's for. Stan 15:14, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
A brief look at the history will show why this page is protected. Discussion is required to resolve this issue.
Badagnani created this page, and it included wholesale quotes from commercial sites engaged in marketing agave syrup, together with links to the homepages of these sites. One of these homepages was devoid of factual information, but the justification for including it was apparently the (not NPOV) information buried deeper in the site and lifted for inclusion. Furthermore, there was a paragraph of unsubstantiated assertion denigrating two producers, to the benefit of a third.
My initial intervention was prompted by these unsubstantiated commercial comparisons. Subsequent reversion led me to question the NPOV status of the entire article and the spam status of the commercial links. I have tried to improve this article, and have been frustrated by constant revertion ("justified" by irrelevant or false assertions in the edit log). Michael Fourman 21:37, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
Okay, we now know that agave sap in its natural state was called aguamiel in Spanish. An English translation of the Spanish Wikipedia article on aguamiel ( http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguamiel ):
"Mead" is a bad translation of "aguamiel" in this context.
Mead is a drink made by fermenting honey and water: in Spanish,
Hidromiel.
Michael Fourman
20:07, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
Aguamiel is not mead, and it is not the commercial agave nectar which more properly ought to be called syrup. Ksvaughan2
From the Spanish Wikipedia article on Mayáhuel, who was apparently the goddess of the agave, and agave beverages:
Just removed the link added to references since it doesn't link to information about processes (as claimed). Here is the text from the linked page.
Michael Fourman 04:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC) Michael, that link was supposed to go to http://www.volcanicnectar.com/agavenectarmanufacturer.html Sorry about that. This page gives the most precise description and photos of extracting the agave I've found. --—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pa1ntsm1l3 ( talk • contribs)
Is the external link ( http://www.bodybydesignonline.com/diet/is-agave-nectar-a-health-scam/) spam? I'm leaning towards "yes", but I'm not sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SerialJaywalker ( talk • contribs) 20:27, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
I just removed a part about supposed mineral content that does not check out. Here's the nutrition data for agave syrup: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/757544/1?quantity=3.0. It's got a little dietary fibre but the rest is just sugar. -- InformationalAnarchist ( talk) 16:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
Agave nectar (also called agave syrup) is a sweetener... Why not the other way around: "Agave syrup (also called agave nectar)"? Technically, nectar is the sugared plant product secreted by the organs called nectaries, located either at the base of the perianth (floral nectaries) or outside of the flowers (extrafloral nectaries). Agave syrup is artificially created from the juice extracted from the core of the agave (or from its quiote) so it's not a nectar. Why do we have to use an incorrect and presumably invented for commercial purpose terminology?--Mirrordor 02:25, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
It seems that there are allergens in the water of some species of agave, it'd be nice to find more information on the potential for allergens with the components involved (or a good source for the lack of it) in the syrup... 76.10.128.192 ( talk) 14:26, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
That statement is highly dubious. Raw agave nectar has a somewhat bitter taste. I put it in my coffee and my coffee tastes about as bitter as a grapefruit. It really accentuates the naturally bitter taste of the coffee. Please taste something before you put in the odd statement of "fact." Lighthead þ 21:05, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
Does anybody know if agave (plant or syrup) contains histamine or is a histamine-liberator? I could not find nothing about it in the web. Histamine is triggering in some people with "histamine intolerance" a pseudo-allergic reaction. Thanks! -- Horia mar ( talk) 17:42, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
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I have yet to see the results of a single clinical trial on the consumption of Agave Nectar as an ingredient or a table-top sweetener that supports any of these claims: "Agave syrup has been marketed as a "healthful" sweetener, but this fact has been the subject of criticism due to its very high fructose content (which is even more than high fructose corn syrup in its fructose content by weight) and its potential to lead to insulin resistance and significantly increased triglyceride levels (a risk factor for heart disease)." My point is that fructose in excessive amounts may be linked to these health issues but is there ANY evidence that consumption of fructose on the scale of consumption that one might associate with sweetening tea or coffee, as an ingredient sweetener in a variety of common foods would result in a deleterious effect? One might make the same arguments about consuming fruit juices of any kind. In the mid-nineties I initiated the preparation of a self-affirmation GRAS report on Agave Nectar; we enlisted the professional services of a well known toxicology and regulatory agency called The Weinberg Group. It is interesting to note that not a single commercial manufacturer or distributor of Agave Nectar has shown interest in completing this report. Furthermore none of these companies has dedicated any funding to genuine and comprehensive clinical trials on consumption. And finally, there are massive inconsistencies with respect to basic information about the method processing and the glycemic index associated with Agave Nectar. In short, there is little or no RELIABLE science available on the subject. Feel free to contact me should you care to discuss these issues. I have been involved in the commercial development of Agave syrups since 1995. See our website at www.agavenectar.com. Sabra Van Dolsen, President and CEO of The Colibree Company, Inc.
[3][4]==Sources (or lack thereof) for health claims in article== Anybody want to say what the constituents (sugars & sweet tasting substances in particular). I had a bit of look around on the web but the suggestion seems to be that some are adulterated with sugars not naturally found in agave. Is there an expert who can write some info on this. I ask for this in particular reference to diabetic and low GI/GL diets. 212.32.87.199 13:48, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
"Nutritionally and functionally, agave syrup is similar to high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose (Karo) syrup."
"...the American Diabetes Association lists agave along with other sweeteners (table sugar, honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, maple sugar, and confectioner’s sugar) that should be limited in diabetic diets."
source: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-agave?page=1
"According to Bianchi, agave “nectar” and HFCS “are indeed made the same way, using a highly chemical process dependent on genetically modified enzymes". The manufacturing process also calls for caustic acids, clarifiers, filtration chemicals and so forth in the conversion of agave starches. The result is a high level of highly refined fructose in the remaining syrup, along with some remaining inulin."
Source: http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/agave-nectar-worse-than-we-thought
and
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5846333/fulltext.html
--thomas 75.85.116.31 ( talk) 06:55, 18 April 2013 (UTC)
I'll admit, I'm not very computer savy. I thought I had done something wrong when I came back to the site and saw them removed. I thought you were referring to someone from their company adding the links. Who is the one removing mine? Would it be better for them to add the links? I can send them an e-mail to see if they want to add a link. I just thought it would be a good idea since Wikipedia was so high on the search engines for the word agave. If there is a better way or if I'm doing something wrong, let me know.
I contacted Volcanic Nectar and told them they should have an expert make a change on the Agave Syrup page with correct information. For example it says something silly like "the best agave for you is high in fructose." What sense does that make? At what point did more sugar equal healthy? Who wrote that? Anyway, they sent me an e-mail saying they corrected some of the information. When I checked today, I see it has been erased and the old incorrect information has been added back in. Any idea why Badagnani? --—Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.41.189.17 ( talk • contribs)
The best agave syrup for your body must be low in fructose (less than 50%), low in glucose and cannot contain any other sugars. How can the best agave syrup be both low in fructose and glucose if these are both their main constituents? Also, if fructose is less than 50% that means glucose will be near 50%. Given that it is fructose that has a low glycemic index compared to sucrose and glucose, how its percentage being low and glucose relative high be "best" for your body? Alephone 01:47, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
Glucose and fructose are both bad for your body, but there was a time when medical doctors thought fructose might be better for diabetics, before we understood fructose well. Glucose is processed via insulin and increases hyperinsulemia in type 2 diabetics but might not be processed completely in type 1 diabetics. OTOH fructose doesn't raise insulin, but is more likely to be stored as fat and interferes with the appetite-regulating hormones like leptin. I think that as an isolate, glucose might be better because it fits into the feedback mechanisms better but I can't find proof of medical consensus, especially as new research is changing the analysis. That said, isolated sweeteners are not healthy at all and the small amount of levulose (nonrefined levorotatory D fructose with associated compounds) in fruit is a better source. However Alephone, the amount of water affects the "healthiness" of agave syrup, in which case the amount, not the percentage of fructose is important. Ksvaughan2
The USDA database shows Raw Agave (presumably the same as Agave Nectar but I could be wrong) as having a very different Glucose to Fructose ratio than what is stated in this article. Can anyone verify that Raw Agave and Agave Nectar are the same thing? If so, the Composition section of the article may be inaccurate. -- Jlgillam ( talk) 18:55, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
The term Raw Agave is probably aguamiel, which is used as a drink. Agave nectar is a cooked or vacuum processed fluid from the pina which is enzymatically converted to a syrup. Ksvaughan2
The article tells how Agave salmiana is cut to extract the aguamiel, but in fact this can be done with most species of agave (for instance see the Tequila article)and the manufacturer of Madhava Agave Nectar has said in his rebuttal to the Weston A. Price article that they use the piña rootstalk from A. salmiana. See http://alteredplates.blogspot.com/2008/12/madhavas-craig-gerbore-responds-to.html although I don't buy his unsourced information on the relative constituents of blue and salmiana agave on the grounds of common sense.
The description of obtaining aguamiel is different from how agave nectar is made. (The link in the parent Agave article perpetrates this misinformation) Ksvaughan2
Unless they can be substantiated these statements should not be here. NPOV please!
Michael Fourman 05:58, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
OK, you guys exhausted my patience - any more reverting and the article gets protected. Work out an agreement on the talk page, that's what it's for. Stan 15:14, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
A brief look at the history will show why this page is protected. Discussion is required to resolve this issue.
Badagnani created this page, and it included wholesale quotes from commercial sites engaged in marketing agave syrup, together with links to the homepages of these sites. One of these homepages was devoid of factual information, but the justification for including it was apparently the (not NPOV) information buried deeper in the site and lifted for inclusion. Furthermore, there was a paragraph of unsubstantiated assertion denigrating two producers, to the benefit of a third.
My initial intervention was prompted by these unsubstantiated commercial comparisons. Subsequent reversion led me to question the NPOV status of the entire article and the spam status of the commercial links. I have tried to improve this article, and have been frustrated by constant revertion ("justified" by irrelevant or false assertions in the edit log). Michael Fourman 21:37, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
Okay, we now know that agave sap in its natural state was called aguamiel in Spanish. An English translation of the Spanish Wikipedia article on aguamiel ( http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguamiel ):
"Mead" is a bad translation of "aguamiel" in this context.
Mead is a drink made by fermenting honey and water: in Spanish,
Hidromiel.
Michael Fourman
20:07, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
Aguamiel is not mead, and it is not the commercial agave nectar which more properly ought to be called syrup. Ksvaughan2
From the Spanish Wikipedia article on Mayáhuel, who was apparently the goddess of the agave, and agave beverages:
Just removed the link added to references since it doesn't link to information about processes (as claimed). Here is the text from the linked page.
Michael Fourman 04:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC) Michael, that link was supposed to go to http://www.volcanicnectar.com/agavenectarmanufacturer.html Sorry about that. This page gives the most precise description and photos of extracting the agave I've found. --—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pa1ntsm1l3 ( talk • contribs)
Is the external link ( http://www.bodybydesignonline.com/diet/is-agave-nectar-a-health-scam/) spam? I'm leaning towards "yes", but I'm not sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SerialJaywalker ( talk • contribs) 20:27, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
I just removed a part about supposed mineral content that does not check out. Here's the nutrition data for agave syrup: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/757544/1?quantity=3.0. It's got a little dietary fibre but the rest is just sugar. -- InformationalAnarchist ( talk) 16:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
Agave nectar (also called agave syrup) is a sweetener... Why not the other way around: "Agave syrup (also called agave nectar)"? Technically, nectar is the sugared plant product secreted by the organs called nectaries, located either at the base of the perianth (floral nectaries) or outside of the flowers (extrafloral nectaries). Agave syrup is artificially created from the juice extracted from the core of the agave (or from its quiote) so it's not a nectar. Why do we have to use an incorrect and presumably invented for commercial purpose terminology?--Mirrordor 02:25, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
It seems that there are allergens in the water of some species of agave, it'd be nice to find more information on the potential for allergens with the components involved (or a good source for the lack of it) in the syrup... 76.10.128.192 ( talk) 14:26, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
That statement is highly dubious. Raw agave nectar has a somewhat bitter taste. I put it in my coffee and my coffee tastes about as bitter as a grapefruit. It really accentuates the naturally bitter taste of the coffee. Please taste something before you put in the odd statement of "fact." Lighthead þ 21:05, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
Does anybody know if agave (plant or syrup) contains histamine or is a histamine-liberator? I could not find nothing about it in the web. Histamine is triggering in some people with "histamine intolerance" a pseudo-allergic reaction. Thanks! -- Horia mar ( talk) 17:42, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Agave nectar. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 22:21, 27 June 2017 (UTC)