This is unfavourable for the following reasons: Because the liver cannot process the fructose fast enough, it starts making fats (triglycerides) from the fructose, which are then released into the bloodstream. consuming foods containing high fructose corn syrup or agave nectar) will overwhelm the liver. However, consuming too much fructose at once (ie. A small amount of fructose, such as that found in fruits and vegetables is not a bad thing because the body’s liver can process it quite well. Is Fructose Bad for Me? Unlike glucose, which is distributed into the bloodstream and regulated by insulin, fructose is only processed in the liver. In large quantities, concentrated fructose is very damaging. In fact, agave nectar has the highest fructose content of any commercial sweetener (including sugar, which has 50% fructose) because it is being over-processed (the sap from the plant is being over-boiled, which is how it becomes very sweet).

Many brands of agave nectar contain fructose levels ranging from 70-97%, which is why it is being declared as “worse than high-fructose corn syrup,” which contains 55% fructose. In fact, you can use 1/3 of a cup of agave in place of 1 cup of sugar in your dessert recipes, which will dramatically reduce your caloric intake.

Agave nectar, however, is considerably sweeter than sugar, which is why you can use considerably less portions of it to achieve the desired sweetness. One cup of agave nectar contains roughly the same amount of calories as a cup of sugar.

Unlike glucose, fructose is processed by the liver, which explains why it does not cause the blood sugar to rise and minimally impacts on insulin (aka “the fat-storing hormone). It has a diabetic-friendly low glycemic index, because it’s mostly comprised of fructose. This gluten-free sweetener first appeared on the market in the 1990s and became touted as a healthy alternative to sugar, honey, maple syrup and artificial sweeteners. Agave nectar is made by extracting sap from the core of the plant, which is then filtered and heated at low temperatures to break down the carbohydrates into sugars (fructose). It is produced from the Blue Agave, which is a large spiky plant that resembles a cactus and thrives in the volcanic soils of Southern Mexico. Agave nectar is a commercially produced sweetener known to be considerably sweeter than sugar.