Agave | How Big Is Your BUT? Blog

November 18, 2011

Superfoods to Reduce Your Diabetes Risk

Does diabetes run in your family? Has your blood glucose (aka blood sugar) been a little elevated? According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC), approximately 35% of adults 20 and older, and 50% of adults 65 and older have pre-diabetes.

Have you heard the term pre-diabetes? It’s used to describe above-normal blood sugar levels that are not quite elevated enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Here’s the kicker: unless lifestyle changes are made such as weight loss, tweaks to the diet and more exercise, pre-diabetes typically progresses to diabetes.

But I like to focus on the good news. If you are pre-diabetic or diabetes runs in your family, you can take control now and help prevent diabetes. If you have diabetes, smart habits can reduce your blood sugar level enough that you may need less medication or none at all.

Joining me on the podcast this week to bust some diabetes myths and talk superfoods is my guest Regina Ragone, registered dietitian and Food Director at Family Circle magazine.

One of the most common diabetes myths is that eating too much sugar causes diabetes. You my eat very little sugar or few sweets and still develop diabetes. Weigh gain plays a big role in diabetes and it doesn’t matter what foods you eat or drink to put on the pounds.

Diabetes Superfoods to Add to Your Diet:

Leafy greens

Nuts

Herbs and spices: particularly cinnamon, oregano and turmeric

High Fiber Foods: Susan: such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, beans, lentils, oatmeal

New research is looking at both regular consumption of caffeinated coffee and a normal blood level of vitamin D as potentially protective against diabetes.

Be sure and try this month’s Family Circle recipe: turkey scaloppine with tarragon-mushroom sauce at the WDBO.com/healthcenter.

Want more? Listen to this week’s podcast below.

Listen to this week’s podcast

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June 29, 2011

Agave Syrup…How Sweet is It?

Agave nectar, also called agave syrup, is a sweetener from the agave plant, which is a Mexican succulent like a cactus. Agave juice is collected from the plant and then filtered and processed to break down the carbohydrates into sugars. The result is the popular syrup.

So agave is a processed sweetener, less processed than some and more processed than others, but still processed as most sweeteners are. Some companies process agave using organic standards.

Agave contains inulin, a more complex form of fructose thus making fructose the main sweetener. Sugar and agave have approximately the same number of calories….about 16 per teaspoon. Agave is sweeter than sugar so you could save a few calories by the amount you use.

Popular for its delicate taste, agave is used in desserts as well as to sweeten teas and health drinks. Plus, it’s a trendy sugar alternative frequently used in cocktails. The darker agave syrup is good on pancakes or waffles.

Agave is one more caloric sweetener choice in the ‘added sugars’ category that already includes honey, maple syrup, sugar, raw sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. The word ‘sugars’ refers to all of them.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. Previously I’ve mentioned the antioxidant content of spices such as cinnamon and ginger. Well, a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association looked at the antioxidant content of various sweeteners and found that sugar, high fructose corn syrup and agave have minimal antioxidant activity while dark and blackstrap molasses had the highest antioxidant activity with maples syrup, brown sugar and honey coming in somewhere in the middle.

Is agave better for you than any other sweetener such as sugar, maple syrup or honey? Agave is promoted as a low glycemic alterative for diabetics. Is it? If you’re diabetic or have friends or family members who are, you don’t want to miss this. Sugar is technically called sucrose, which is composed of 50% fructose and 50% glucose when it is broken down in the body.

Agave varies in its fructose content with a range from 55% up to 90% or more. It all depends on the agave vendor and processing method used that can affect the fructose content. Agave nectar with 55% fructose is about the same as high fructose corn syrup so don’t miss this…there would be no benefit in agave with 55% fructose over sugar, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar or honey from the standpoint of composition and utilization by the body, only taste and personal preference.

The reason you hear agave nectar touted as safer for diabetics is that a higher fructose composition typically doesn’t cause dangerous spikes in blood glucose. Currently, we don’t have clinical studies as it regards agave’s safety in diabetes. Unless there is a label stating the exact percentage of fructose in the agave nectar, it can range as we just talked about from 55% up. So if you are diabetic, your blood glucose may or may not be spiked…all depending on how much fructose is in the particular agave product consumed and your particular case of diabetes.