Agave Nectar (several people have asked about this, so here is an article)

[Guest guest]

Agave Nectar, The High Fructose Health Food Fraud

Recipients <chrisgupta

chrisgupta

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:15:39 -0500

chrisgupta

 

 

Here is an incredible article by

<http://www.yourreturn.org/Articles/About_Me2.htm>Ramiel Nagel. Remi

has done an enormous service to us all via his deep researches in the

field of nutrition. Much of his work is revealed in a great book

" <http://www.curetoothdecay.com/Tooth_Decay/Cure_tooth_decay.htm>Cure

Tooth Decay " which contrary to the prevailing, self serving dogma,

teaches you how to heal and prevent cavities with organic foods.

Following on the heals of this book is

" <http://www.healingourchildren.net/>Healing Our Children " His web

sites are a veritable gold mine of info. One can even read a chapter

from his books there.

 

This post contains not only High Fructose sugar but touches on all

sweeteners and is a must read by all, especially to the seasoned

readers of this list/blog.

 

" The reason why refined fructose is used so commonly as a sweetener

is simple: it's extremely cheap in cost.....

 

.....What I want people to understand is that mislabeling a sweetener

like agave syrup is about money and profit, to the real determent of

your health. "

 

" In an average supermarket, at least 2/3 of all items contain some

form of highly refined fructose, because it is one of the cheapest

ingredients and fillers for foods, next to water, air, and salt. In

health food stores, some foods contain a sweetener called crystalline

fructose or other sweeteners labeled as fructose. Essentially, these

are all refined corn fructose, labeled in a way to trick people that

it is something more natural. Mr. Bianchi concludes: "

 

" This adulterated agave syrup (refined fructose) was also labeled as

certified organic (8) to fool consumers into thinking they were

getting a pure product. This shows you how unverified organic labels

were used in the USA, and continue being used even now. "

 

Exposed, yet again, are the smoke and mirrors shenanigans of food

marketing especially organic foods much like:

 

" The cost of the margarine is based on denatured vegetable oil which

only costs a few cents, while good butter may cost a few dollars.

This provides considerable room for easy profits. It does not take

rocket science to market margarine just slightly less than butter and

pocket the resulting huge profit. "

 

Extracted from:

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/11/24/butter_versus_margarine.htm>Bu\

tter

Versus Margarine

 

" In a stunning report released in October 2008, the U.S. government's

own accountability office reported that of the thousands of food

products imported into the US each year from 150 countries, just 96

total food items were inspected by the FDA to insure label accuracy

and food safety. (7) The FDA doesn't usually protect consumers

regarding food safety or food labeling, nor does it usually take

action against many misleading labels. This was seen with the

processed infant formula scandal from China, where infant milk powder

was tainted with

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2008/10/29/tainted_food_supply_only_melam\

ine_you_say_hmm.htm>toxic

melamine. "

 

" Refined fructose (or anything) lacks amino acids, vitamins,

minerals, pectin, and fiber. As a result, the body doesn't recognize

refined fructose. Levulose, on the other hand, is naturally occurring

in fruits, and is not isolated but bound to other naturally occurring

sugars. Unlike man-made fructose, levulose contains enzymes,

vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fruit pectin. Refined fructose is

processed in the body through the liver, rather than digested in the

intestine.(5) Levulose is digested in the intestine. Refined fructose

robs the body of many micronutrient treasures in order to assimilate

itself for physiological use. While naturally occurring fruit sugars

contain levulose bound to other sugars, high fructose corn syrup

contains " free " (unbound), chemically refined fructose. Research

indicates that free refined fructose interferes with the heart's use

of key minerals like

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/09/15/magnesium_chloride_in_acute_an\

d_chronic_diseases.htm>magnesium,

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm>c\

opper

and

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/10/29/diabetes_1_shame_of_the_orthod\

ox_doctors_chromium_more.htm>chromium.

(6)

 

" High fructose from agave or corn will kill a

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/10/29/diabetes_1_shame_of_the_orthod\

ox_doctors_chromium_more.htm>diabetic

or hypoglycemic much faster than refined white sugar, " says Mr.

Bianchi. " By eating high fructose syrups, you are clogging the veins,

creating inflammation, and increasing body fat, while stressing your

heart. This is in part because refined fructose is foreign to the

body, and is not recognized by it. "

 

" Without the FDA making efforts to enforce food-labeling laws,

consumers cannot be certain that what they are eating is even what

the label says it is. New sweeteners like agave syrup (refined

fructose) were made to coin a profit, and not to help or assist vital

health. Due to the lies from many companies who sell agave syrup

(refined fructose), you have been led to believe that it is a safe

and a natural sweetener. The retail refined agave syrup label does

not explain that it goes through a complicated chemical refining

process of enzymatic digestion, which converts the starch into the

free, man-made chemical fructose that has a direct link to serious

the degenerative disease conditions so prevalent in our culture.

While high fructose agave syrup won't spike your blood sugar levels,

the fructose in it will cause: mineral depletion, liver inflammation,

hardening of the arteries, insulin resistance leading to diabetes,

cardio-vascular disease, obesity, and may be toxic for use during pregnancy.

 

If you want to buy something sweet, get a piece of fruit, not a candy

bar labeled as a " health food. " If you want to create something

sweet, use sweeteners that are known to be safer. For uncooked

dishes, unheated raw honey* or dates work well. For cooked dishes or

sweet drinks, a good organic maple syrup, or even freshly juiced

apple juice or orange juice can provide delicious and relatively safe

sweetness. In general, to be healthy, we cannot eat sugar all day, no

matter how natural the form of sugar is, or is claimed to be. One

should limit total sweetener consumption to approximately 10% of

daily calories. Or one sweet side dish per day, (like a bowl of fruit

with yogurt.) "

 

*Please note: " ...In point of fact, there is a very widespread and

significant volume practice of feeding bees refined sucrose and/or

refined crystallized or liquid high fructose corn syrup to merely

flavor, partially convert and call 'honey', because it past through

the bee's digestive tract. The result of such a product (essentially

bee barf) labeled as honey, but is closer in saccharide break down to

the refined sweetener sources used... "

 

As I always stress knowing the source on one's food is paramount. Try

to

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2006/05/07/100_mile_diet_local_food_recip\

e_for_health.htm>buy

from a local bee keeper who you know. This goes for produce etc.

where and when possible.

 

" While it may be depressing news to hear about the lack of standards

in the health food world, let this news help encourage you to seek

access to more pure and unrefined foods and sweetener sources, so

that you can be healthier. "

 

Chris Gupta

http://tinyurl.com/6bn5bj

--------------------------

See also:

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/02/05/sugar_consumption_and_pancreat\

ic_cancer.htm>Sugar

Consumption and Pancreatic Cancer

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/11/23/at_last_why_sugar_kills.htm>At

Last - Why Sugar Kills!

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/11/03/why_is_sugar_a_problem.htm>Why

Is Sugar A Problem?

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/10/25/a_sweet_solution_to_fund_raisi\

ng_sugar_colour.htm>A

Sweet Solution to Fund Raising - Sugar & Colour

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/08/04/the_negative_impact_of_sugar_o\

n_vitamin_c.htm>The

Negative Impact of Sugar on Vitamin C

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/06/30/why_the_government_just_said_n\

o_to_less_sugar.htm>Why

the Government " just said no " to Less Sugar

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/02/10/fibigers_work_on_cancer_sugar.\

htm>Fibiger's

Work on Cancer & Sugar

-----------------------

 

Agave Nectar, the High Fructose Health Food Fraud

by Rami Nagel

 

Agave nectar is advertised as a " diabetic friendly, " raw, and a " 100%

natural sweetener. " Yet it is none of these.

 

The purpose of this article is to show you that agave nectar is in

reality not a natural sweetener but a highly refined form of

fructose, more concentrated than the high fructose corn syrup used in

sodas. Refined fructose is not a 'natural' sugar, and countless

studies implicate it as a sweetener that will contribute to disease.

Therefore, agave nectar is not a health building product, but rather

a deceptively marketed form of a highly processed and refined sweetener.

 

Agave nectar is found on the shelves of health food stores primarily

under the labels, " Agave Nectar 100% Natural Sweetener, " (1) and

" Organic Raw Blue Agave Nectar. " (2) In addition, it can be found in

foods labeled as organic or raw, including: ketchup, ice-cream,

chocolate, and health food bars.

 

The implication of its name, the pictures and descriptions on the

product labels, is that agave is an unrefined sweetener that has been

used for thousands of years by native people in central Mexico.

Botanically, agave plants are in the lily order Liliales and the

order Asparagales (depending on which botanical taxonomic system you

use) both of which define agave as a flowering plant. For " thousands

of years natives to central Mexico used different species of agave

plants for medicine, as well as for building shelter, " so claims the

fanciful pedigree of this plant. Natives would also allow the sweet

sap/liquid of the agave to ferment naturally, which created a mildly

alcoholic beverage with a very pungent flavor known as 'pulque'. They

also made a traditional sweetener from the agave sap/juice (miel de

agave) by simply boiling it for several hours. But, as one agave

seller explains, the agave nectar purchased in stores is neither of

these traditional foods: " Agave nectar is a newly created sweetener,

having been developed during the 1990's. " (3)

 

What is Agave Nectar?

 

The principal constituent of the agave is starch, such as what is

found in corn or rice. The process in which the agave starch is

converted into refined fructose and then sold as the sweetener agave

nectar is through an enzymatic and chemical conversion that refines,

clarifies, heats, chemically alters, centrifuges, and filters the

non-sweet starch into a highly refined sweetener, fructose. Here, a

distinction must be made. Fructose is not what is found in fruit.

Commonly, fructose is compared with its opposite and truly naturally

occurring sweetener, known as 'levulose'. There are some chemical

similarities between fructose (man made) and levulose (made by

nature), and so the synthetically refined sugar fructose was labeled

in a way to make one believe it comes from fruit. Levulose is not

fructose even though people will claim it is. Russ Bianchi is

Managing Director and CEO of Adept Solutions, Inc., a globally

recognized food and beverage development company. Russ explains:

 

" If fructose were natural, I would be able to go out to corn field

and get a bucket of sweetener. I can go to a beehive and get honey

that I can eat without processing it. I can go to an apple tree and

pick an apple and eat it. I cannot go out into a cornfield, squeeze

corn, and get fructose syrup, and I cannot go into an agave field,

and get the product sold on retail shelves, as agave nectar. Falsely

labeled agave fructose and high fructose corn syrup are both products

of advanced chemistry and extensive food processing technology. " (4)

Mr. Bianchi has an insider's view of the health food industry and the

food creation industry, having worked in the industry for decades.

 

Take water for example. We all know that the chemical formula for

water is H2O: two hydrogens and one oxygen. The opposite would be

O2H, which is nothing close to water. Likewise, man-made fructose

would have to have the chemical formula changed for it to be

levulose, so it is not levulose. Saying fructose is levulose is like

saying that margarine is the same as butter. Refined fructose lacks

amino acids, vitamins, minerals, pectin, and fiber. As a result, the

body doesn't recognize refined fructose. Levulose, on the other hand,

is naturally occurring in fruits, and is not isolated but bound to

other naturally occurring sugars. Unlike man-made fructose, levulose

contains enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fruit pectin.

Refined fructose is processed in the body through the liver, rather

than digested in the intestine.(5) Levulose is digested in the

intestine. Refined fructose robs the body of many micronutrient

treasures in order to assimilate itself for physiological use. While

naturally occurring fruit sugars contain levulose bound to other

sugars, high fructose corn syrup contains " free " (unbound),

chemically refined fructose. Research indicates that free refined

fructose interferes with the heart's use of key minerals like

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/09/15/magnesium_chloride_in_acute_an\

d_chronic_diseases.htm>magnesium,

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm>c\

opper

and chromium. (6)

 

The reason why refined fructose is used so commonly as a sweetener is

simple: it's extremely cheap in cost.

 

Agave nectar, as a final product, is mostly chemically refined

fructose, anywhere from 70% and higher according to the agave nectar

chemical profiles posted on agave nectar websites. The refined

fructose in agave nectar is much more concentrated than the fructose

in high fructose corn syrup. For comparison, the high fructose corn

syrup used in sodas is 55% refined fructose. High fructose corn syrup

is made with genetically modified enzymes. Is agave syrup (refined

fructose) made the same way?

 

" They are indeed made the same way, using a highly chemical process

with genetically modified enzymes. They are also using caustic acids,

clarifiers, filtration chemicals and so forth in the conversion of

agave starches into highly refined fructose inulin that is even

higher in fructose content than high fructose corn syrup " , says Mr.

Bianchi. Inulin is a chain of chemically refined fibers and sugars

linked together, and, this bears repeating, high fructose inulin has

more concentrated sugar than high fructose corn syrup!

 

In a confidential FDA letter, Dr. Martin Stutsman (from the Food and

Drug Administration's Office of Labeling Enforcement) explains the

FDA's food labeling laws related to Agave Nectar: " Corn syrup treated

with enzymes to enhance the fructose levels is to be labeled 'High

Fructose Corn Syrup.' " According to Mr. Stutsman, agave, whose main

carbohydrate is starch, requires the label " hydrolyzed inulin syrup. "

Even though, like corn, agave is a starch processed with enzymes, it

does not require the label high fructose agave syrup because the

resulting refined fructose sweetener is so sweet that it is

chemically closer to inulin.

 

From this point forward, agave nectar will be referred to by a more

accurate name: agave syrup. This name is also legally uncomplicated

and non-deceptive, per US Federal labeling laws, even though the true

name would be hydrolyzed high fructose inulin syrup. " The product

called 'agave nectar' is really chemically refined hydrolyzed high

fructose, which is intentionally mislabeled to deceive consumers, "

states Mr. Bianchi.

 

In a stunning report released in October 2008, the U.S. government's

own accountability office reported that of the thousands of food

products imported into the US each year from 150 countries, just 96

total food items were inspected by the FDA to insure label accuracy

and food safety. (7) The FDA doesn't usually protect consumers

regarding food safety or food labeling, nor does it usually take

action against many misleading labels. This was seen with the

processed infant formula scandal from China, where infant milk powder

was tainted with

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2008/10/29/tainted_food_supply_only_melam\

ine_you_say_hmm.htm>toxic

melamine.

 

High Fructose Agave's Dubious History

 

In the year 2000, with warrants in hand, federal agents from the

Office of Criminal Investigations of the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) came banging on the door of North America's largest agave

nectar distributor, Western Commerce Corporation in California. In an

extremely rare case of the FDA protecting consumer interests (rather

than supporting big business, while shutting down legitimate and

health consciousness competition), they discovered that Western

Commerce Corporation was adulterating their agave syrup with high

fructose corn syrup (to lower the cost even more and increase profit

margins). While the federal agents confiscated the material in the

warehouse, the owners of Western Commerce Corporation were nowhere to

be found. Those who ran the company fled the country with millions of

dollars in assets to avoid criminal prosecution.

 

This adulterated agave syrup (refined fructose) was also labeled as

certified organic (8) to fool consumers into thinking they were

getting a pure product. This shows you how unverified organic labels

were used in the USA, and continue being used even now.

 

Today, high fructose agave syrup is made primarily by two companies,

Nekulti, and IIDEA. Yet a third agave marketer, by the name of

'Volcanic,' has a suspicious claim on their website. " If your agave

comes from one of the other two companies in Mexico, something has

been added. " (9) They are referring to Nekulti and IIDEA. Their claim

is based upon an analysis, which claims that their agave nectar has a

lower refined fructose level.

 

Blue Agave Nectar is Not a Safe Sweetener

 

When the Spaniards came to the New World, around 1535, they brought

with them a desire for brandy. When their supplies ran out they had

to find a new alcoholic beverage to replace their lost brandy. The

Spaniards found that by distilling the juice of the plant now known

as the blue agave plant they could produce a potent alcoholic

beverage, which over time has evolved into what we now call tequila.

In order to produce a sweetener from the blue agave plant, the entire

pineapple -like, giant root bulb of the plant is removed from the

earth. It is then dried and juiced, making an agave starch juice.

This in no way resembles any form of traditional use of the blue

agave plant. While great for distilling tequila, the blue agave

plant, when transformed through a chemical process into refined

fructose, may contain many properties that make them dangerous and

toxic for regular human consumption.

 

" Yucca species, together with other agaves, are known to contain

large quantities of saponins, " according to Tyler's Honest Herbal.

Saponins in many varieties of agave plants are toxic steroid

derivatives, as well as purgatives, and are to be avoided during

pregnancy or breastfeeding because they might cause or contribute to

miscarriage. These toxins have adverse effects on non-pregnant people

and many health compromised consumer categories as well. They are

known to contribute to internal hemorrhaging by destroying red blood

cells, and they may gravely negatively harm people taking statin and

high blood pressure drugs. Agave may also stimulate blood flow in the

uterus.(10) Other first hand reports indicate agave may promote

sterility in women. Since the agaves used for agave syrup are not

being used in their traditional way, there should be a warning label

on the sweetener packages that it may promote miscarriage during

pregnancy, through weakening the uterine lining.

 

What's Wrong With Fructose?

 

Once eaten, refined fructose appears as triglycerides in the blood

stream, or as stored body fat. Elevated triglyceride levels, caused

by consumption of refined fructose, are building blocks for hardening

human arteries. Metabolic studies have proven the relationship

between refined fructose and obesity.(11) Because fructose is not

converted to blood glucose, refined fructose doesn't raise nor crash

human blood glucose levels hence the claim that it is safe for

diabetics. Supposedly, refined fructose has a low glycemic index, and

won't affect your blood sugar negatively. But the food labels are

deceptive. Refined fructose is not really safe for

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/10/29/diabetes_1_shame_of_the_orthod\

ox_doctors_chromium_more.htm>diabetics.

" High fructose from agave or corn will kill a diabetic or

hypoglycemic much faster than refined white sugar, " says Mr. Bianchi.

" By eating high fructose syrups, you are clogging the veins, creating

inflammation, and increasing body fat, while stressing your heart.

This is in part because refined fructose is foreign to the body, and

is not recognized by it. "

 

The average person consumes about 98 pounds of highly refined corn

fructose per year in the USA, that roughly translates into half a cup

of refined fructose per day. In an average supermarket, at least 2/3

of all items contain some form of highly refined fructose, because it

is one of the cheapest ingredients and fillers for foods, next to

water, air, and salt. In health food stores, some foods contain a

sweetener called crystalline fructose or other sweeteners labeled as

fructose. Essentially, these are all refined corn fructose, labeled

in a way to trick people that it is something more natural. Mr.

Bianchi concludes:

 

" The simple answer tends to be the correct one. There is no land of

milk and agave. Milk comes from goats, cows, humans, etc., and honey

comes from bees. What I want people to understand is that mislabeling

a sweetener like agave syrup is about money and profit, to the real

determent of your health. The unethical factor is that the natural

health food business has gone to great lengths in the case of agave

to defraud consumers, by deceiving and lying to those who are trying

to seek better health. There is something ethically worse about a

company pretending to sell something all natural to people seeking

health, than a mainstream company not pretending that their food is

healthier. For example, nobody selling fast and junk foods is

advocating it is health food. When you are in a natural health food

store, you expect to pay extra money for something that is good for

you. We have con artists here, pretending to deliver better health at

a higher cost, when in reality it is equal to, or much worse than the

many other sweeteners or harmful junk food. People are expecting to

receive health, and are intentionally being defrauded for profit. "

 

Amber Agave Syrup (refined fructose)

 

Agave syrup (refined fructose) comes in two colors: clear or light,

and amber. What is this difference? Mr. Bianchi explains, " Due to

poor quality control in the agave processing plants in Mexico,

sometimes the fructose gets burned after being heated above 140

degrees Fahrenheit, it creates a darker, or amber color. "

 

Chain Food Stores and Health Food Stores

 

When Western Commerce Corporation was shut down, due to their agave

syrup alteration scheme in 2000, the big guys in the food industry

stayed away from any agave syrups. They knew better than to risk

lawsuits, and health consumer fraud. " They were clear that agave was

criminally mislabeled per US Code Of Federal Regulation labeling

laws, with an untried sweetener, new to the market, that contained

saponins, and was not clearly approved as safe for use. " explains Mr.

Bianchi. For many years following this bust agave syrup was not used.

 

But recently, some sellers in the agave syrup field, once quiet, have

begun sneaking back into the food and beverage chain. And retail food

giants like Whole Foods, Wegman's, Trader Joes and Kroger, (12) who

should know better, and who should know the food labeling laws and

requirements, still have no hesitation in selling the toxic,

unapproved, and mislabeled refined fructose agave syrup, as well as

products containing it. Mr. Bianchi explains the legality of this

practice. " The simple answer here, again, tends to be the correct

one. The stores carry agave products knowing that if they are caught,

the legal responsibility will be on the agave sellers and producers,

and not the stores. They will just pull it off the shelves. They may

also be victims themselves and lied to by the purveyors and sellers

of agave products. So long as agave products are profitable, the

stores will carry them, regardless of fraudulent labeling or health

concerns. Stores will continue to carry agave until consumer fraud

complaints to local district attorneys, consumer unions, class action

litigation or severe reactions like death ensue. "

 

Conclusions on Agave Syrup

 

Without the FDA making efforts to enforce food-labeling laws,

consumers cannot be certain that what they are eating is even what

the label says it is. New sweeteners like agave syrup (refined

fructose) were made to coin a profit, and not to help or assist vital

health. Due to the lies from many companies who sell agave syrup

(refined fructose), you have been led to believe that it is a safe

and a natural sweetener. The retail refined agave syrup label does

not explain that it goes through a complicated chemical refining

process of enzymatic digestion, which converts the starch into the

free, man-made chemical fructose that has a direct link to serious

the degenerative disease conditions so prevalent in our culture.

While high fructose agave syrup won't spike your blood sugar levels,

the fructose in it will cause: mineral depletion, liver inflammation,

hardening of the arteries, insulin resistance leading to diabetes,

cardio-vascular disease, obesity, and may be toxic for use during pregnancy.

 

If you want to buy something sweet, get a piece of fruit, not a candy

bar labeled as a " health food. " If you want to create something

sweet, use sweeteners that are known to be safer. For uncooked

dishes, unheated raw honey or dates work well. For cooked dishes or

sweet drinks, a good organic maple syrup, or even freshly juiced

apple juice or orange juice can provide delicious and relatively safe

sweetness. In general, to be healthy, we cannot eat sugar all day, no

matter how natural the form of sugar is, or is claimed to be. One

should limit total sweetener consumption to approximately 10% of

daily calories. Or one sweet side dish per day, (like a bowl of fruit

with yogurt.)

 

While it may be depressing news to hear about the lack of standards

in the health food world, let this news help encourage you to seek

access to more pure and unrefined foods and sweetener sources, so

that you can be healthier.

 

Additional Reading Published Books that Talk about the Dangers of

Refined Fructose and problems with food labeling and deceptive health

practices.

 

Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola

The Truth About the Drug Companies by Marcia Angell

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan -

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan -

Sugar Shock! by Connie Bennett

Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock

Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser

Welcome to Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Generation Rx, Greg Crister

Bad Foods, Michael Oakes

Food Fight by Dan Imhof

The Sugar Fix, Timothy Gower, Richard Johnson

Please Don't Eat the Wallpaper, Dr. Nancy Irven

Understanding R Epidemic, Sylivia Ledoux 2008

Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver

Obesity Epidemiology, Frank Hu

 

Articles Links

1. (http://www.madhavasagave.com/AgavePromo.aspx)

2.

(http://www.wholesomesweeteners.com/brands/Wholesome_Sweeteners/Organic_Raw_Blue\

_Agave.html)

 

3. (http://www.madhavahoney.com/agave.htm)

4. (http://servicesdirectory.ift.org/cms/?pid=3003 & companyId=2380044)

5. (http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/annotate/node/132)

6. (http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html) (USDA

in Beltsville studies)

7. (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08597.pdf)

8. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3289/is_/ai_55084258)

9. (http://www.volcanicnectar.com/blueagavefaq.html)

10. (http://childbirthsolutions.org/articles/pregnancy/herbsandvit/index.php)

11. (http://news.ufl.edu/2005/12/06/fructose/)

(http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/825/ )

(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081016074701.htm)

(http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537)

12.

(http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1706699_1707550_1814004,\

00.html)

 

 

Bibliography for additional research

 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics for the

year 2003, from the Economic Research Service latest numbers, reports

the average consumption per capita in the USA population of

approximately and estimated 300 million, of refined sweeteners (not

including high intensity sweeteners) is 161.90 pounds per year. This

consumption number must be contrasted by the first US official

statistics in 1905, at just under 6 pounds of total refined sweetener

consumption per year, with a population that was less urbanized, or

prone to the consumption of processed food or refined sweeteners. One

might argue that mortality rates have actually improved in comparison

to the correlation of higher sweetener consumption rates in this 100

or year period. In point of fact, diabetes, hyperinsulinism or

hypoglycemia, cardio vascular disease, obesity and cancer, and

correlated diseases, have also rapidly and epidemiological paralleled

the rise of diseases medically and actuarially linked with increased

refined sweetener consumption.

 

November 10th, 2001, Wall Street Journal, Food? The Next Tobacco?

Page #1, 5th Column

 

World Health Organization Statistics for the Year 2000

 

Something About Sugar by George M. Rolph, John J. Newbegin Publishers

of San Francisco, 1917

 

Fat Land - How Americans Became The Fattest People In the World by

Greg Critser, Penguin Books, 2003,

ISBN 0-713-99739-7

 

Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola, Nelson Books, ISBN #0-7852-2179-4

 

Disease Prevention And Treatment - Expanded Third Addition, 2000,

Life Extension Media, ISBN 0-9658777-4-4

 

Los Altos Health Research Clinic Study conducted by Dr. Gene Spiller

 

Polarimetry, Saccharimetry and the Sugars, Circular C440, US National

Bureau Of Standards, by Frederick J. Bates & Associates, May 1, 1942

 

Sugarless - Towards The Year 2000, Edited by A.J. Rugg-Gunn, Royal

Society Of chemistry, Department of child Dental Health, University

of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, 1994

 

Food Politics: How The Food Industry Influences Nutrition & Health by

Marion Nestle

 

Physicians' Desk Reference, 2001, Chief Editor, Sheldon Hendler, PhD,

MD, Medical Economics Company, Inc.

 

Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia

 

Food Chemical Codex, National Academy Press, ISBN 0-309-03090-0

 

The Merck Index, Twelfth Edition, 1996, ISBN 0-911910-12-3

 

The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food & Nutrition, University of

California, Berkeley, Sheldon Margen, MD, Editor, ISBN 0-929661-0306

 

4. Physician's Desk Reference, 2001, Chief Editor, Sheldon Hendler,

PhD, MD, Medical Economics Company, Inc.

 

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Scientific American, September 1998

 

Sugar Isn't Always Sweet - Living With, Understanding And Managing

Hypoglycemia, by Wilbur D. Currier, MD, Maura Zack, Harvey M. Ross,

MD, 1983, IBSN 0-88005-002-0

 

The Journal, Price-Pottinger Nutrition Foundation, Fall 2001, Volume

25, number 3, Diabetes Prevention: Historical Analysis, Edward Bennett, Editor

 

National Institutes Of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases of the

US National Institute of Health, December 13th, 2001, US Surgeon

General David Satcher, MD, And US Health & Human Services Secretary

Tommy F. Thompson, on November 1st, 2001, announced a new emphasis on

treating obesity, diabetes through managing blood glucose, blood

pressure and cholesterol, in conjunction with the US Center for

Disease Control and Prevention. Key to this landmark study was the

medically based recommendation for regular exercise, a limit to total

calories consumed per day, with the SPECIFIC emphasis on the

wholesale reduction of refined carbohydrates, including but not

limited to, refined sweeteners.

 

The Associated Press On March 25th, 2004, by Steve Hartose, reported

'Refined Fructose Sweeteners Linked to Obesity Rise' which

incorporated the USDA sweetener consumption rate from 1967-2000 by

Dr. George A Bray, a longtime obesity scientist at the Louisiana

State University System's Pennington Biomedical Research Center,

whose conclusive results where published in the April 2004 issue of

the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, linking HFCS consumption

and obesity in the American population. Food & Beverage Industry

spokespersons tried to deflect the findings, much like the tobacco

Industry denied any linkage between tobacco products and disease, but

the evidence is clear and irrefutable.

 

Fructose and mannose metabolism - 3D structure in PDB

 

<http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/IMMOB/poppezz/hfcs.html>Isomer\

ization

of glucose and fructose at web site

 

Measuring Blood Fat Vital To Heart Examination, March 24th, 1998, in

The Boston Globe, By Richard Saltus. Triglyceride levels are a

precursor to the formation of low density lipoproteins (LDL or 'bad'

cholesterol) conducted by Antonio M. Gotto, Jr, MD, Dean of Cornell

University Medical College in New York, Jorge Jeppesen, MD of

Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. Key to the medically

published study the direct causal connection of high levels of

triglycerides from refined fructose intake. Ronal Krauss, head of

Molecular Medicine at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories in California

said of the study:

 

" a bunch of us who have been absolutely convinced that triglycerides

are a part of the missing equation that we have to deal with above

and beyond cholesterol " (are vindicated) in the predicting the risk

of heart disease " . The original study was published in Circulation,

the medical periodical of the American Heart Association, also in

March of 1998.

 

Reuters Limited, April 26th, 1998: " Harvard Medical School in Boston,

concluded two studies presented at an international conference of the

American Lung Association and the American Thoracic Society,

involving 100,000 American nurses for obesity linkage to asthma. Over

14.6 million in the USA suffer from asthma. Triglycerides, caused

primarily from refined fructose consumption, are a leading cause of obesity. "

 

Meira Fields, PhD, at USDA in Beltsville, Maryland has conducted

several studies directly linking laboratory animals (rats and pigs)

with rapid

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm>c\

opper

depletion, leading to rapid and advanced heart disease, as a result

of " moderate " High Fructose Corn Syrup ingestion. Richard Anderson,

PhD, lead scientist at the Human Nutrition Research Center in

Beltsville, Maryland notes: " Many people think that adult-onset

diabetes and cardiovascular disease are natural diseases of aging; we

believe they are natural diseases of poor nutrition. " This was

published in Men's Confidential Magazine confirming earlier tests and

reported results in Science News of June 8th, 1985 by Norman Steele,

PhD, of USDA in Beltsville, Maryland, delivered to the Federation of

American Societies For Experimental Biology in St. Louis, MO, in 1985.

 

The Metabolic Basis Of Inherited Disease, McGraw Hill, ISBN

0-07-060726-5, Editors Richard S. Lauffer, Ellen Warren & Donna

McIvor, Chapter #5, The Metabolism Of Fructose, And Chapter

 

Some Specific Pathways Of Metabolism Of Carbohydrates And Lipids

 

Metabolic Effects Of Utilizable Dietary Carbohydrates by Henning

Beck-Nielson, Oluf Pederson , And Niels Schwartz Sorenson, ISBN

0-8247-1710-4, 1982, page 261-284

 

'Is Fructose More Natural Than Sugar?' By Jack Challem, Natural

Health Magazine, June 1994, Page 40-44

 

Intestinal Fructose Absorption & Toddler's Diarrhea by Han Hoechst, A

Study Of Clinical Aspects & Pathophysiology, ISBN 90-900-97-14-7, 1997

 

Food Technology Magazine, Page 48, January, 1996, Refined Fructose &

Glucose Are Not True Energy Sources

 

Sugar & Cancer by Dr. Jon J. Brooks, MD: www.alternativehealth.com/.au/sugar

 

<http://www.mercola.com/>www.mercola.com Power Bar Founder's Sudden

Death from HFCS content in his bars by Dr. Mercola, March 22nd, 2004

 

 

Carbohydrate Mimics - Concepts & Methods, edited by Yves Chapleur,

Wiley-Vich Publishers, 1998, ISBN 3-527-29526-7

 

An insulin replacement? Modern Drug Discovery, December 2000

 

Just a spoonful of sugar? Modern Drug discovery, May 2001

 

Increased Glucose Transport-Phosphorylation & Muscle Glycogen

Synthesis After Exercise Training In Insulin-Resistant Subjects, New

England Journal Of Medicine, October 31st, 1996

 

Sugars & Sweeteners, edited by Morman Kretchmer, PhD, MD and Clara B.

Hollenbeck, PhD, CRC Press, 1991, ISBN 0-8493-8835-X

 

Report From the FDA's Sugar Task Force - 1986: Evaluation Of Health

Aspects Of Sugars Contained In Carbohydrate Sweeteners by Walter H.

Glinsmann, MD, Hiltje Irausquin, PhD & Youngmee K. Park, PhD

 

EU Sweeteners Directive94/35/EC, cleared last November 2003, states

that cyclamates in water, milk and fruit juice based drinks, as well

as energy reduced and no added sugar drinks and a range of

confectionery products, including chewing gum and breath freshening

sweets are to be reduced. Cyclamates are banned in the USA. Stevia

was banned in all categories in the EU in late 2002.

 

High Blood Sugar Levels Increase Pancreatic Cancer Risk, May 17th,

2000, Journal Of The American Medical Association, Susan M. Gapstur,

MD, Peter Gann, MD, William Love, MD, Kiang Liu, MD, Laura Coloanglo,

MD & Alan Dyer, MD, This landmark 25 year study, with 40,000

subjects, conclusively proved lifestyle, exercise and dietary intake

(particularly refined sweetener consumption and fat intake) have a

direct medical correlation to the prevention of this form of cancer.

The authors are member of Northwestern University Medical School.

 

Approximately 24.9 billion pounds is the current production (2004)

per annum in the USA of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Divide this number

by the estimate population of 300 million and this gives you an

average consumption per capita per annum of 82.67 pounds of HFCS

consumed per year for each man, woman and child in the USA.

 

Approximately 420 million pounds per year of 'Honey' is produced in

North America, for human consumption, per USDA numbers. Most people

believe honey is produced exclusively by the natural enzymatic and

digestive conversion of pollen, nectar or other organic plant

materials by bees to the digestible multi-saccharide known and

defined as 'honey'. In point of fact, true natural honey, whether

USDA certified or not, in various grades, is only produced in the mid

Spring to late Summer months of each year, when the biological

materials are readily available for bees to digest, convert and

regurgitate. Then how is honey production in many regions continuous

into the Fall, Winter and Early Spring when the raw material sources

for conversion do not exist? Apiarist would argue that higher

latitudes produce more day light hours, during the Summer, for honey

production, or conversely the importation of southern hemisphere

honey, during the winter months of North America. In point of fact,

there is a very widespread and significant volume practice of feeding

bees refined sucrose and/or refined crystallized or liquid high

fructose corn syrup to merely flavor, partially convert and call

'honey', because it past through the bee's digestive tract. The

result of such a product (essentially bee barf) labeled as honey, but

is closer in saccharide break down to the refined sweetener sources

used. These additional months of stress on the hives, while keeping

the hives under light 24 hours per day, eventually cause mite

infestation in the hives and large bee kill-offs. These cyclical

kills, approximately every 4th or 5th year, cause a shortage in

production and honey prices spike upward. In addition to this growing

honey production practice of feeding man made refined sweeteners to

bees, honey is allergenic, should not be consumed by infants,

pregnant women, or other health sensitive populations, is

unstandardized in water activity (Aw), as well as microbially and

bacteriologically active and unstandardized. Higher levels of refined

fructose in honey cause accelerated Maillard browning reactions when

heat above 140 degrees F. Assertions by honey promoters that is

beneficial for extended kinesiological, sports or diet energy, have

no independent scientific basis. Honey's ability to extend shelf life

in processed food products, or are a better humectant than other

products, like inverted sugar, is false.

 

Report from the FDA's Sugar Task Force - 1986 - Evaluation Of Health

Aspects Of Sugars Contained In Carbohydrate Sweeteners, Walter H.

Glinsman, MD, Hiltje Rausquin, PhD & Youngmee K. Park, PhD

 

US Freedom Of Information Act Request: In late 1994 the US FDA DENIED

A Generally Recognized As Safe Petition Submitted By TOWA Chemicals

Of Japan for MALTITOL (sometimes falsely labeled as HSH, hydrolyzed

maltose syrup, or other brand names to obscure what is being used) on

the basis of laboratory animals producing a very large percentage

number, statistically, of malignant carcinogenic (CANCER) tumors.

Human testing was not approved based on these ingestion tests. Polyol

producers were quick to respond by citing Joint Expert Committee On

Food Additives of the United Nations Agricultural Organization as

well as the World Health Organization findings in 1997 and 1998 that

there was nothing wrong with maltitol or polyols. Such assertions, do

not reflect or refute the carcinogenic evidence that caused the FDA

GRAS petition to be DENIED on maltitol, nor are these organizations

the governing regulatory bodies for the USA or any other government

food organizations in the world. Assertions that polyols are safe for

human ingestion are neither legally based nor scientifically based

and primarily marketing in conjecture. The Joint Expert Committee On

Food Additives of the UN/WHO, who are OFFEND also quoted as saying 70

to 100 grams per day of polyols is an acceptable and safe level of

consumption in humans is dubious. This ingestion rate is LAUGHABLE,

and we welcome this joint committee, any polyol producers' sales

staff, or any other individuals or organizations to try to consume

this " recommended " safe gram level per day and maintain digestive normalcy.

 

In a related matter, polyols do not comply with US Code Of Federal

Regulation standards for GRAS status for the legal definition and

ingredient descriptor or 'standard of identity' for real 'Chocolate',

because they are non-nutritive and the US chocolate manufacturers do

not want their value-added product category associated with a

laxative and cancer causing sweetening system. There have been

several attempts to characterized imported compounds coating products

using polyols, even cocoa butter based, as " chocolate flavored " or

associating an identifiable chocolate brand name with the product.

All have eventually failed because consumers at the very least 'get

the runs' by eating these products and do not repurchase.

 

In 2000, The Center For Science In The Public interest submitted a

Citizen's Petition to the US FDA, requesting the mandatory front

panel product warning label for the use of any polyol (lacititol,

xylitol, mannitol, maltitol, isomalt, HSH, polydextrose,

glycerin/glycerol, sorbitol, erythritol, etc.). This petition's

intent was to protect consumers from ingesting more than 1 gram of

these ingredients, due to the high propensity of children, pregnant

women, seniors, diabetics, and other health compromised populations

of consumers who will have adverse digestive side effects.

Additionally, the CPSI maintained, based on a large body of evidence,

that the total grams of refined sugars must be further emphasized in

the Nutritional Facts panel requirements under US NLEA legislation.

Assertions by marketers in the EU, Canada the USA and elsewhere that

maltitol, or other polyols, are naturally based, or derived from

natural sourcing are false; unless of course refined gasoline can

also be considered and labeled 'dinosaur juice'....

 

Polyols are extensively used in mouth wash, toothpastes, sugarless

gums, mints, breath products and spray, throat lozenges and cough

syrup, which are categories that are NOT under beverage or food CFR

law in the USA, but rather cosmetic, flavor, or pharmaceutical law,

and are not considered sources for full ingestion by humans. The

rational, by promoters of polyols that because they are OK to use in

these oral categories, fails in medical evidence of the harmful

effects of polyols in total human ingestion.

 

The Healing Foods by Patricia Hausman & Judith Benn Hurley, Rodale

Press, 1989, ISBN 0-87857-812-9

 

The Food Revolution by John Robbins, forward by Dean Ornish, MD,

Founder & President Of The Preventive Medicine Research Institute,

Clinical Professor Of Medicine, University Of California At San

Francisco, <http://www.ornish.com/>www.ornish.com, Conari

Press, 2001, ISBN 1-57324-702-2

 

Stanford Research International Report On High Intensity Sweetener

Global Consumption, published, July, 2000, by Sebastian Bizzari,

Hossein Jansheker & Yuka Yoshida at: www.ceh.sric.com/Public/Reports/543.6500

 

Maltodextrin, typically corn based, as a bi-product of the corn wet

milling and refining process in the manufacturer of High Fructose

Corn Syrup or Corn Syrup is not technically considered a sweetener

below 20 DE (Dextrose Equivalency) in sweetness value. These

ingredients are touted to be 'complex carbohydrates', natural and

sometimes FALSELY labeled by the non-legal descriptor of 'glucose

polymers'. There is no credible medical or kinesiological evidence to

suggest refined maltodextrin provides any sustained blood glucose or

'energy' benefit to consumers. In point of fact, refined

maltodextrins are typically converted to blood glucose, through the

human Krebs Cycle, even faster than refined sucrose.

 

Aspartame: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You - a chronological and

scientific 40 page report on the history, development, regulatory

approval and previously suppressed evidence on aspartame at:

<http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html>http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html

 

United State Code Of Federal Regulation standards, Book #21, US FDA

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/cgi-bin/www.foodproductdesign,com.archive/1993>\

High

Intensity Sweetener Blends by Eric Walters, PhD, Contributing Editor

of Food Product Design Magazine

 

Sucralose Safety: <http://www.mercola.com/>www.mercola.com

 

As one example of this fundamental and permanent shift in consumer

awareness in the current food market place, is the category of snack,

diet, functional and energy bars. In 1989, in the USA and Canada, the

total granola, breakfast, snack and energy bar market, among the top

12 brands was less that USD$60 million, per annum, in market

penetration. Today, in 2004,per several industry sources, and cross

referenced periodical databases, the estimate market share is

approximately USDS $3.2 billion among the top 25 brands, with major

multinationals having acquired the smaller brands, who eroded

breakfast bar, granola bar, breakfast cereal, and confectionery bar

categories, of market share.

 

This is clear economic evidence that consumers are reading ingredient

labels, and avoiding refined sweetener intake, because this bar

sector has taken almost 100% of it's market share from refined

sweetener and fat laden categories or brands. The successful bar

brands are avoiding polyols, glycerin, HFCS, maltodextrin, refined

sucrose, etc. Acquiring multinationals that failed to heed the lesson

on why these brands were bought, and consumer loyalty gained, based

on cleaner and safer ingredients, have lost market share to those who

do understand this fact. The days of confusing (or tricking) the

consumer are long gone.

 

A similar economic shift has occurred in the EU over Genetically

Modified Organisms, and to a lesser extent Organic ingredient

sourcing. American suppliers lost hundreds of millions of dollars in

market share, virtually over night, to suppliers who had foreseen

that authentic GMO Free raw material sources were not requested by

consumers, but demanded. The refined sweetener category is equally

problematic in the EU, as elsewhere, because consumers do now also

read ingredient labels in ever increasing numbers. Major brands on

American supermarket shelves in the early 1990's, have been acquired,

or are completely gone, because their existing ingredient

declaration, beyond being refined sweetener laden, looked like

chemistry catalogs. Phony and illegal avoidance labeling, often found

in the American natural health food sector, with such fanciful labels

like 'evaporated cane juice' to avoid the tern 'sugar', which it is

and metabolized exactly as sugar, or the successfully criminally

prosecuted 'agave syrup' for hydrolyzed high fructose inulin syrup

(recently showing up under the avoidance descriptor of non compliant

'chicory syrup' and failing to reveal the highly refined high

fructose nature of the ingredient), have been exposed as " false and

misleading " by the US FDA and not in CFR compliance.

 

--

" You are the hero the world has been waiting for! "

 

Ramiel Nagel is an alternative medicine author of two books,

" <http://www.healingourchildren.net/>Healing Our Children " and

" <http://www.curetoothdecay.com/>Cure Tooth Decay "

 

Free health information is available online at:

<http://www.yourreturn.org/>www.yourreturn.org, www.preconceptionhealth.org

 

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