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New research conducted at the University of Tokyo suggests that pure maple syrup may promote a healthy liver.
The pilot study, conducted by Dr. Keiko Abe of the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, showed that healthy laboratory rats fed a diet in which some of the carbohydrate was replaced with pure maple syrup from Canada yielded significantly better results in liver function tests than the control groups fed a diet with a syrup mix containing a similar sugar content as maple syrup. The results will be published in the November, 2011 issue of Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.
Although most healthy individuals take liver function for granted, liver health is of great importance because of the hundreds of vital functions it performs that are essential to human life, which include storing energy (glycogen) and regulating blood glucose, the production of certain amino acids (building blocks of protein), filtering harmful substances from the blood. Liver disease not related to alcohol consumption is estimated to affect 25% of people in the United States, according to the American Liver Foundation. It shows up most often in middle aged people who are overweight, have abnormal blood lipids and diabetes or insulin resistance conditions when grouped together, are known as metabolic syndrome.
"It is important to understand the factors leading to impaired liver function - our lifestyle choices including poor diet, stress and lack of exercise, as well as exposure to environmental pollutants that produce tissue-damaging free radicals," says Dr. Melissa Palmer, clinical professor and medical director of hepatology at New York University Plainview. "The preliminary results of this research are encouraging and emphasize the importance of choosing a healthy diet to help counteract the lifestyle and environmental factors that may impact liver function, even our choice of a sweetener. In addition to Dr. Abe's recent findings, published research suggests that pure maple syrup may prove to be a better choice of sweetener because it was found to be rich in polyphenolic antioxidants and contains vitamins and minerals," notes Palmer.
09:11 PM on 5/14/2010
And don’t forget to check out the links to other rebuttals including this one: http://www.wellsphere.com/healthy-eating-article/you-ask-i-answer-agave-is-the-new-enemy/1082273
Which points out, among other curious facts, Dr. Mercola’s affiliation with the "Association of American Physicians and Surgeons"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Physicians_and_Surgeons
09:11 PM on 4/21/2010
"Glad to read as I ALWAYS give agave to my kids over pancakes thinking its better!"
It can be better, but like all sweeteners, it shoud be used SPARINGLY. Just check the brand of the Agave you use. As the article mentions some brands are actually good.
05:48 PM on 4/21/2010
Wow! Glad to read as I ALWAYS give agave to my kids over pancakes thinking its better! ay! You say that xylitol is okay in LOW doses. What does this mean exactly? I use xylitol 2-5 times a day in tea. Is this an appropriate dose? Is it safe for 3 yr olds? How does one calculate a safer dose? I prefer xylitol to stevia as it has no aftertaste and gives no cavities, but would appreciate some guidance on at what actual rate it becomes not safe?
07:20 AM on 4/20/2010
This article is misleading. Not all agave nectar is processed the way suggested in the article. If you eat RAW agave nectar then there is no added chemicles. See how it is processed here:
http://www.wholesomesweeteners.com/HechoEnMexico.html
02:58 AM on 4/20/2010
Before throwing the Agave nectars out of the kitchen, read http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-eating-article/madhava-s-craig-gerbore-responds-to-agave-nectar-controversy-here/584480 for a counter point.
Like ANY sweetner, it should be used SPARINGLY or IN MODERATION. For example, I will use a little agave nectar in my plain Greek style yogurt instead of using honey simply because it mixes better than honey (the honey tends to just clump up and stick to the spoon) — but this is one of the few times I add sweetners to anything. (for those who hate plain yogurt, try a little agave nectar and a dash or two of cinnamon — you may never go back to those fuity and often pre-sweetened flavored yogurts)
05:28 PM on 4/19/2010
These claims are LIBELOUS as they include outright lies and MISinformation as well as distortion. Yes, Agave Nectar is comprised of a ratio of fructose to dextrose (plant glucose) and this product is indeed high in fructose and is a refined sweetener; it is produced by thermic and/or enzymatic hydrolysis and color and flavor are removed to render a sweetener that is palatable; most manufacturers are employing ionic exchange systems in their method process; without refinement this sweetener would taste much like molasses. One wonders why we are suddenly supposed to accept the argument that fructose itself is BAD for you when it exists naturally in thousands of fruits and vegetables. Fructose is low glycemic and I have yet to see one ounce of scientific evidence that supports the claim the Agave Nectar is harmful to one’s health if consumed in moderation. ALL sweeteners should be consumed in moderation including sucrose, rice syrup, maple syrup, bee honey, fruit juice concentrates. Sweeteners are empty carbohydrates with little or no nutritional value consumed because we have grown accustomed to consuming them, not because they contribute nutritional value to our diets. Yes of course it would be better to eat a piece of fruit! Nevertheless, society will continue to market a wide variety of foods using refined sweeteners as an ingredient. The FDA has approved the labeling of Agave Nectar and Agave Syrup. WHY is Agave Nectar in particular being attacked? THAT is the question that needs to be asked here.
01:21 PM on 4/19/2010
Great article, Dr. Joe but no one mentions the OTHER problem with HFCS is that non-organic corn is laced with toxic pesticides!
Kim Crawford,M.D./Anti-Aging Mind,Body,Skin Care
http://kimcrawfordmd.com
10:03 PM on 4/18/2010
How about eating stuff sweetened with good old Cane Sugar?
11:02 PM on 4/17/2010
Only in America can we see obesity and anorexia epidemics and moral witnesses lining up. They aren’t scientists, mostly, but they play them online.
The Tarahumara natives of the Sierra Madre routinely run hundred mile races after smoking and drinking to excess, and they beat our scientifically pure puritanical fuss budgets who will tell you that only strict dietary observances and purity of thought word and deed can allow anyone to succeed. They would win the Leadville 100 every year, but the self-righteous league of insiders has banned them.
the point being, sugar is not the culprit, of any kind. Don’t get me wrong. I avoid cornsyrup, mostly, but sugar entirely is simply a religious belief.
07:11 PM on 4/18/2010
I don’t know how bad this product might be but I did stop using it because my GLUCOSE number was always up.
02:06 AM on 4/18/2010
alkamm, I notice you didn’t dispute anything in the article, you only went, "ooh, spooky sciencey self-righteous types, why i say, my granddaddy smoked a pack a day til he was 90, rabble rabble." is anything in the article false? what in it is false?
09:16 PM on 4/17/2010
You forgot to mention that HFCS is the excretory byproduct of an Aspergillus bacteria so when you are drinking that sweet soda it is really amoeba poop.
The corn is digested producing ethanol which is the profit material. The syrup is really a toxic byproduct. As we move towards more corn based fuels expect the syrup to become cheaper and more pervasive. Ater all, if Big Food didn’t feed it to us they would have to dispose of it. Which would cost a pile of money.
Us consumers are little more that a way to distribute toxic waste.
12:45 PM on 4/18/2010
Mercola is probably a great doctor, but I don’t know what he eats — he’s afraid of everything. If you look at his site, almost any product that we’ve always thought to be a healthy substitute is called "poison". I think he needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I agree with alkamm.
10:54 PM on 4/17/2010
You make amoeba poop sound bad!
07:22 PM on 4/17/2010
Blue Agave Tequila is processed with almost 75 % to 100% Blue Agave . It has a smoother texture going down and not likely to make you sick. Cheap Tequila is a mixture of different cactus with a little agave. Makes my head swirl, next stop bathroom. No Tequila can be sold as Blue Agave unless it meets strick content .
06:36 PM on 4/17/2010
What I’m concerned about, because I don’t eat any of these high fructose corn syrup, or sugary substitutes, is that I like Margaritas and agave tequila is touted as some kind of special Margarita tequila. Is it as bad as these highly processed agave sugar substitues? What’s the story?
04:28 PM on 5/01/2010
100% pure agave is the way to go. Others that arent 100% are the "headachy" or make you sick ones.
06:35 PM on 4/17/2010
…I found this article so badly written that I gave up on it somewhere from half way to two thirds of the way through. I am a scientist, and I do understand this wasn’t written to be scientific, I still do think most people can digest and deserve to receive reasonably well written articles on topics such as this which, in essence, purport to convey scientific concepts.
It’s most important claims are unsupported and it rambles on like either they don’t know what they want to say or are intentionally trying to baffle us with BS.
When I read the claim that one tablespoon of agave sweetener provides over 25 grams, my internal BS meter went off. I stopped reading, took out the ole scale, grabbed a crucible and balanced the scale and, as I don’t use either agave or high fructose corn syrup, poured a tablespoon of Karo brand Dark Corn Syrup as a reasonable aproximation of HFCS onto it and measured and it just about exactly weighed 25 grams.
The exact claim was, "Fructose only becomes a metabolic poison when you consume it in quantities greater than 25 grams a day. If you consume one of the typical agave preparations that is one tablespoon, assuming you consume ZERO additional fructose in your diet." So, "greater than 25 grams" is in "one tablespoon" "one of the typical agave preparations."
Bzzzzzzzzzzzt.
06:42 PM on 4/17/2010
It might seem to be splitting hairs, but anyone with logical reasoning skills can map out that if a teaspoon weighs 25 grams, there can’t be more than 25 grams of one of the content’s ingredients, fructose, in the teaspoon, even if a "typical agave preparation" were 100% fructose.
This is just one of the many signs that the author isn’t a brain trust, isn’t a serious scientist, and may have an agenda in which they are trying to mislead.
Beware.
.
11:46 PM on 4/17/2010
Typo: I accidentally substituted teaspoon for tablespoon in two spots. I did all my work in tablespoons because that’s what the article cited. I regret the error. Still, it did not impact the conclusions whatsoever.
.
02:09 AM on 4/18/2010
Fun for whom? Why would it be good anytime you can demonize food?
11:05 PM on 4/17/2010
The baffling is fun for them, and any time you can demonize food, that’s good. Food turns to poop. Who likes that?
Airatarians are the only really pure people, and they ingest too much pollen in the air.
03:42 PM on 4/20/2010
OMG RTIII I could not have said it better. I was just looking this up and that "70 gram" run-on sentence to nowhere in the article could not be more bogus.
I happen to have the chemical analysis of Madhava Organic Agave Nectar up on my screen now. One tablespoon contains 23% moisture and 77% solids. Of the solid content, 71.8%-72.5% is fructose. One tablespoon of the nectar weighs 21 grams total – so of that, approximately 11.64 grams are fructose.
Also, per the nutritional information, 1 tablespoon contains 16gm total carbohydrates. Madhava nectar is made from naturally evaporating the nectar of salmiana agave plant (worlds apart from the baked core of blue agave). This syrup contains natural fructose, glucose and some fructan content which is not immediately absorbed and digested. 11.64 grams of the total 16 grams of carbohydrates in one tablespoon of this product are fructose.
Once again: Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt. Which stands for: B-A-D M-A-T-H.
Huff Po, what’s up with posting this article?
08:04 PM on 4/16/2010
I think it’s best to eat everything as close to its natural state as possible, and produced as close to home as possible. Anything highly-processed, ‘health food’ or not, is moving away from the fuel our bodies are designed to run on.
11:07 PM on 4/17/2010
Raw vegan. Recipe for malnutrition or stairway to heaven? Well, either way, you die, and maybe faster.
True believers will believe anything.
11:26 PM on 4/17/2010
The problem is that some of the raw vegan restaurants here in LA swear by agave – and so do some of the raw vegan cookbooks. Hmmmm…who to believe.
01:22 PM on 4/17/2010
You’re right Pinotnoir. That’s the beauty of being raw vegan!
Sun~Rose
07:57 PM on 4/16/2010
This article compares agave to HFCS but leaves out at least one glaring problem with HFCS!
Its all genetically engineered. Its a GMO, the biggest scam pulled on the american public.
02:11 AM on 4/18/2010
alkamm, go sell snake oil somewhere. "true believers will believe anything"? what does that MEAN?! does anything you say mean anything?!
11:27 PM on 4/17/2010
Malnutrition? Actually, you often end up eating more calories and protein you would on a raw vegan "diet" then normal flexitarians. Pasta made our of cashews, coconut oil, veggies, etc. Raw vegan is not really what you’re probably picturing. Mind you, I’m not a raw vegan, just a veg, but I respect raw vegans very much.