Bad News About Agave Nectar, Honey, and other Concentrated Fructose Sweeteners - August 12, 2010

This is all bad news, so I shall keep it short and not sweet at all. I have previously reported that sugar, especially sucrose (table sugar) and glucose (regular corn syrup) should be strictly avoided by cancer warriors. I further suggested that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) should also be avoided, as it is chemically about the same as table sugar (sucrose is 50/50 glucose and fructose while HFCS ranges from 45/55 to 40/60) while saving your body even the small work of breaking one chemical bond that unites these two simple sugars in sucrose. The reason I gave for this is that intake of these high-glucose sweeteners will spike your blood sugar and super-energize cancer cells by showering them with their favorite food source. Clear, recent, peer-reviewed evidence supports the fact that HFCS is more dangerous than table sugar. Alternatives that I suggested were honey and agave nectar, both forms of fructose (also known as fruit sugar). Some new research from UCLA has indicated that fructose is particularly evil for cancer warriors, even though it does NOT spike blood glucose and is therefore safe for diabetics. The reason is that when the fructose eventually enters a cancer cell, it turns out that the cancer actually PREFERS the fructose for non-oxidative respiration (fermentation), leading to bad side effects like inflammation, uric acid, and healthy/happy cancer cells. While the research article was based only on the particularly nasty pancreatic cancer, it is well known that ALL cancers metabolize sugars in identical fashion.

This is a very unpleasant surprise to those of us who found agave nectar to be a "free pass" to sugar sweetness (and calories) without the risk. So even though Oprah puts agave nectar in her oatmeal (a fact that has driven demand high and promoted widespread availability), cancer is well fed by fructose. My cousin who lives in Mexico, a few miles from the area where most agave nectar is sourced, has also passed on some information that very nasty chemicals are often used in conjunction with making the "nectar," adding to the risk of using it as food. And the amount of fructose naturally occurring in fruit is not large enough to be of concern, but fruit juice (which has the equivalent of way more fruit than you could eat in a sitting) is also a path to high fructose intake. So it looks like Stevia or very limited amounts of organic table sugar, brown sugar, or pure maple syrup are the only alternatives at this point. Honey should be used only in the strictest moderation. Artificial sweeteners? Don't even think about messing with these highly processed chemicals. Safest would be nothing at all.

Please read the comments below this post for some interesting further discussions about fructose and stevia.