Making Chocolate from Wild Cacao
How to Make a Marshmallow Pop
Valentine Gifts for the Five Senses
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Sausage Recipes of the Month
When Should Bars Cut You Off?
What’s a Healthy Replacement for Sugar?
Erin McKenna, founder of BabyCakes NYC, uses agave nectar (also known as agave syrup) in her baking where others use sugar. It’s sweeter than sugar, so she says to use 2/3 cup for every cup of sugar that a recipe calls for, and to make sure that you add it to the wet ingredients, not the dry.
Agave is an awesome substitute and low glycemic! Use daily in my morning tea!
Laura Klein - OrganicAuthority.com
Euonymous, my comment above referred of course implicitly to type 2 (formerly "adult-onset") diabetes mellitus (DM) as an example of various health problems whose connection to longterm lifestyle choices is firmly established (details below, from authority, not assertion). My point was hardly that any specific sugar or other food "causes" DM. That's the very mindset I'm disputing here. Americans...+READ
Euonymous, my comment above referred of course implicitly to type 2 (formerly "adult-onset") diabetes mellitus (DM) as an example of various health problems whose connection to longterm lifestyle choices is firmly established (details below, from authority, not assertion). My point was hardly that any specific sugar or other food "causes" DM. That's the very mindset I'm disputing here. Americans now consume vast, growing volumes of sweets (even unnecessarily, in breads, salad dressings, etc.). Americans have also been growing obese. Hearing of consequences, some people fixate on a particular sugar of the moment, as if that (not their dietary and lifestyle choices) were responsible.
Current professional Merck Manual (the standard physicians' reference): "Risk factors for type 2 DM include age over 45; obesity; sedentary lifestyle ... Type 2 DM usually can be prevented with lifestyle modification. Weight loss of as little as 7% of baseline body weight, combined with moderate-intensity physical activity (e.g., walking 30 min/day), may reduce the incidence of DM in high-risk individuals by > 50%." (Quoted directly from the text, ISBN 0911910182, 2006.)
A related current government public-service announcement on radio reports teenage obesity tripled since 1980, and that even though it's fashionable for individuals to plead genetic factors beyond their control,"human genes don't change that fast."-COLLAPSE
Concerning sugar being considered a "scapegoat for epidemic longterm diseases like diabetes...that clearly reflect longterm lifestyle choices."
Overeating of sugar causes neither Type 1 nor Type 2 Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is most frequently diagnosed in children, so clearly is not the result of any longterm lifestyle choice, and occurs in nowhere near epidemic proportions. Type 2 Diabetes,...+READ
Concerning sugar being considered a "scapegoat for epidemic longterm diseases like diabetes...that clearly reflect longterm lifestyle choices."
Overeating of sugar causes neither Type 1 nor Type 2 Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is most frequently diagnosed in children, so clearly is not the result of any longterm lifestyle choice, and occurs in nowhere near epidemic proportions. Type 2 Diabetes, while more common, is the result of genetics, not longterm lifestyle choices either.-COLLAPSE
What is wrong with dried cane juice? Just go get the organic kind of granulated sugar and you're all set.
Sugar is perfectly healthy when consumed in moderation.
The only healthy replacement for too much sugar is less sugar.
The video is entitled "What's a healthy replacement for sugar?" The topic is sugar replacements, not fruit. When I say fructose is poison, I thought it would have been brutally obvious that I was referring to refined fructose/high fructose sweeteners. Fructose/High fructose sweeteners such as agave are NOT healthy replacements for sugar.
Sugar has many downsides, as I'm sure you're aware, but...+READ
The video is entitled "What's a healthy replacement for sugar?" The topic is sugar replacements, not fruit. When I say fructose is poison, I thought it would have been brutally obvious that I was referring to refined fructose/high fructose sweeteners. Fructose/High fructose sweeteners such as agave are NOT healthy replacements for sugar.
Sugar has many downsides, as I'm sure you're aware, but it's far healthier than agave, regardless of how much/little it's processed. Over and over again the studies are bearing this out.
And xylitol is one of the healthiest sugar alternatives on the market, but it has serious shortcomings for the home baker, such as it's expense, availability, propensity towards crystallization/cooling and it's potential laxating effects. It's healthy, but not terribly viable, especially not for entertaining, as individual tolerances vary tremendously.-COLLAPSE
("There, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain ...") Earlier: "fructose is poison ... any ingredient with more fructose is less healthy, not more healthy." Since most food ingredients containing fructose are fruits and vegetables, that dogma dismisses our ancestors who lived mainly on such things since the beginning of humanity. If you exclude the natural fructose sources, you exclude most...+READ
("There, shallow draughts intoxicate the brain ...") Earlier: "fructose is poison ... any ingredient with more fructose is less healthy, not more healthy." Since most food ingredients containing fructose are fruits and vegetables, that dogma dismisses our ancestors who lived mainly on such things since the beginning of humanity. If you exclude the natural fructose sources, you exclude most "ingredients," contradicting the statement above. ("... And drinking largely sobers us again." -- Pope)
Throughout these threads that would stigmatize one or another form of sugar (according to current fashion), people strive to avoid examining the real issues. They argue detailed sugar types, not the 145-pound annual intake. They point to one of several sugars as "poison" (I remember when it was always sucrose), scapegoat for epidemic longterm diseases like diabetes or heart disease that clearly reflect longterm lifestyle choices. They don't question the adding of sugars to processed foods that don't need them and didn't have them in the past (breads, salad dressings, even Worcestershire sauce!), added to serve the market's taste for sweeter foods.
Summary: Americans demand sweetened staple foods, and insist on consuming sweet optional foods (cookies, breakfast pastries, soft drinks) in huge quantity, but want to find ways to keep _doing all that_ yet be healthier.
(Add to my list above, of what's helpfully demonstrated here, "use of Google to find, from thousands of references on a complex topic, a selection of them to defensively support a notion -- rather than to examine it.")-COLLAPSE
Fruits contain fructose? Reeeeally? *rolling my eyes and shaking my head*
Fruits have naturally occurring fiber that mitigates the damaging effects of fructose. That being said, drinking lots of fiber-poor fruit juice may not be the best idea.
Eatzalot, don't blame Google on your inability to use it effectively:
Studies
Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia
...+READ
Fruits contain fructose? Reeeeally? *rolling my eyes and shaking my head*
Fruits have naturally occurring fiber that mitigates the damaging effects of fructose. That being said, drinking lots of fiber-poor fruit juice may not be the best idea.
Eatzalot, don't blame Google on your inability to use it effectively:
Studies
Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/5
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Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/5/911
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Effects of dietary fructose on plasma lipids in healthy subjects
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/5/1128
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Dietary Fructose Reduces Circulating Insulin and Leptin, Attenuates Postprandial Suppression of Ghrelin, and Increases Triglycerides in Women
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/6/2963
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Effect of Fructose Overfeeding and Fish Oil Administration on Hepatic De Novo Lipogenesis and Insulin Sensitivity in Healthy Men
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/54/7/1907
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Effects of fructose on hepatic glucose metabolism in humans
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/279/4/E907
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Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537
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Blood lipid distribution of Hyperinsulinemic men consuming three levels of fructose
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/37/5/740.pdf
Articles
Scientists find sugar may have a sour side
http://news.ufl.edu/2005/12/06/fructose/
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Fructose is No Answer For a Sweetener
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/healthy-eating-article/fructose-is-no-answer-for-a-sweetener/9607
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Sweet and sour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2003/aug/24/shopping.foodanddrink
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Dietary Fructose or Fructose Containing Sweeteners Negatively Impacting Health
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=1265
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Fructose
http://www.drkaslow.com/html/fructose.html
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Fructose: Maybe Not So Natural...and Not So Safe
http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/fructose_dangers.html
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American Diabetes Association Stance on Fructose
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/9/2140
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Is that enough 'context and quantitative information' for you?-COLLAPSE
Scott123's posting helpfully (if indirectly) illustrates a number of things, like health misinformation fads, limitations of Google (which probably now shows that posting too, which other people will point to), and the meaninglessness of "poison" without context and quantitative information. (ALL substances are lethally toxic in extreme amounts; Andy Warhol famously died of a _water_ overdose...+READ
Scott123's posting helpfully (if indirectly) illustrates a number of things, like health misinformation fads, limitations of Google (which probably now shows that posting too, which other people will point to), and the meaninglessness of "poison" without context and quantitative information. (ALL substances are lethally toxic in extreme amounts; Andy Warhol famously died of a _water_ overdose while hospitalized.) "A little learning is a dangerous thing ..."
In reality, scott123 would have difficulty avoiding fructose, because "it occurs in a large number of fruits, honey, and as the sole sugar in bull and human semen" (From the standard reference Merck Index, 14th ed., 2006 -- quoted from the printed text, not from a Web search.)
"Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring ..."-COLLAPSE
Hemlock is all natural and organic. If a pretty blond with nice, big mesmerizing... uh, eyes, told you to bake with hemlock, would you?
Fructose is poison. It's tied to heart disease, obesity and diabetes (google IT!)
Any ingredient with more fructose is LESS healthy, NOT more healthy.
Chow video department, you dropped the ball on this one. Big time. Spreading misinformation like this does...+READ
Hemlock is all natural and organic. If a pretty blond with nice, big mesmerizing... uh, eyes, told you to bake with hemlock, would you?
Fructose is poison. It's tied to heart disease, obesity and diabetes (google IT!)
Any ingredient with more fructose is LESS healthy, NOT more healthy.
Chow video department, you dropped the ball on this one. Big time. Spreading misinformation like this does the public a terrible disservice. Shame on you.-COLLAPSE
frosty101 makes an excellent point. Xylitol (and Mannitol, Sorbitol, and the like) are the so-called sugar alcohols: multiple alcohols (polyols) that occur naturally in fresh ripe produce, and experience a different and slower metabolic path than sugars do, when eaten. They're the basis of traditional "sugarless" chewing gums and candies, and also, as frosty101 mentioned, are associated with some...+READ
frosty101 makes an excellent point. Xylitol (and Mannitol, Sorbitol, and the like) are the so-called sugar alcohols: multiple alcohols (polyols) that occur naturally in fresh ripe produce, and experience a different and slower metabolic path than sugars do, when eaten. They're the basis of traditional "sugarless" chewing gums and candies, and also, as frosty101 mentioned, are associated with some positive health benefits in their own right.
It may be worth mentioning also that these materials can have a "bowel tolerance limit" if consumed in quantity, especially if your body is unaccustomed. (It shows up as intestinal gas -- you've been warned!) For that reason I'd work them into my diet slowly, alert for this side effect.-COLLAPSE
As a nutritionist, I recommend xylitol. It has 1/3 the calories; it is an alkaline food instead of an acid food (table sugar); and it is actually good for you. I cook with it all the time. It looks and tastes just like regular sugar. However, it does cost more.
Agave syrup is fructose and glucose, it's sugar people. Why this fructose syrup is politically correct with the Whole Foods crowd and high fructose corn syrup is the devil incarnate boils down to being just another food fad.
For more info see the thread paulj refers to above:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/620129
Thanks for the pointer. People made the same claims about using less, and no one pointed out that it has more calories per volume, you you're not saving much.
Check the chow discussion linked in the sidebar (Boston, last May). The original question was about availability, but it sidetracks onto the question of whether agave is healthier or not.
LOL! That goes with the typical American thinking that if a little of something is good, a lot of it must be better! Conversely, as in this discussion, if too much of something is bad, then any amount must be bad.
Actually the fructose content of both HFCS and fruit juices varies, it's not a fixed percentage. However if the point of "70% vs. 55%" is to use more fructose, then that argues for using 100% fructose, which is readily available. But incremental differences in sugar composition pale in importance next to the wide range of consumptions, just as differences in exact sugar type hardly counteract...+READ
Actually the fructose content of both HFCS and fruit juices varies, it's not a fixed percentage. However if the point of "70% vs. 55%" is to use more fructose, then that argues for using 100% fructose, which is readily available. But incremental differences in sugar composition pale in importance next to the wide range of consumptions, just as differences in exact sugar type hardly counteract immoderate intake.
A (or the) quintessential modern American nutritional self-delusion is to use a special (and preferably expensive) product with 25% less of some component currently and simplistically thought "bad," then (with conscience duly placated) eat two or three times as much of the finished food.-COLLAPSE
The agave brand in the clip claims to be 70% fructose. The HFCS used as a sugar substitute is 55% fructose.
For many years, standard US health-food replacement for natural sucrose (table-sugar) replacement was fructose, which both tastes sweeter and metabolizes slower, to extents unmatched by other common sugars. Fructose occurs in ripe fruit (whence the name). In the 1980s, US processed-food firms began replacing sucrose with a cheaper sweetener, a glucose-fructose syrup called "high-fructose corn...+READ
For many years, standard US health-food replacement for natural sucrose (table-sugar) replacement was fructose, which both tastes sweeter and metabolizes slower, to extents unmatched by other common sugars. Fructose occurs in ripe fruit (whence the name). In the 1980s, US processed-food firms began replacing sucrose with a cheaper sweetener, a glucose-fructose syrup called "high-fructose corn syrup" (HFCS), which ironically acquired a fashionable stigma. Part of that is the broad and legitimate health concern about excess sugar intake, formerly directed against sucrose. Part of it is questions about incidental or trace components in the syrup. But much of the unfashionability is, just as Ruth Lafler pointed out, simplistic. The irony is in the stigmatizing of what consists partly of a "health food," and also occurs in nature (honey consists almost completely of natural glucose-fructose syrup, so unless someone's objections are more specific, rejecting HFCS means they're rejecting honey too). All the simple sugars taste sweet; there's roughly as much of them in natural fresh fruit juices as in Cola drinks, so a reasoned approach is moderation in all these things, not an arbitrary (and shifting) oversimplification of one sugar as "good" and another "bad."-COLLAPSE
Right. Although it seems counterintuitive, liquid sweeteners like honey or agave nectar actually have more calories per unit of volume -- that's because granulated sugar is in crystalline form that has a lot of air in between the crystals, and the crystal form itself takes up more space per molecule. You can test this at home: take a half cup of sugar and add a half cup of water and the volume of...+READ
Right. Although it seems counterintuitive, liquid sweeteners like honey or agave nectar actually have more calories per unit of volume -- that's because granulated sugar is in crystalline form that has a lot of air in between the crystals, and the crystal form itself takes up more space per molecule. You can test this at home: take a half cup of sugar and add a half cup of water and the volume of the resulting mixture will be less (much less) than 1 cup (the volume of the two components). A tablespoon of granulated sugar has about 45 calories, while a tablespoon of agave nectar has about 60 calories. So when you replace a cup of sugar with 2/3 cup of agave nectar you're saving a whopping 80 calories, or less than 4 calories a cookie if your recipe makes, for example, two dozen cookies.
Americans tend to see things as either good/healthy or bad/unhealthy, but sugar is not intrisically unhealthy (despite what the health faddists would like you to think). Too much sugar is unhealthy. Too much anything, including agave nectar, is unhealthy.-COLLAPSE
While agave syrup does have a lower glycemic index than sugar, remember that it still has plenty of calories.
Also, it looks like the agave is being added to DRY ingredients in the video, contrary to the advice.