Researching the Agave Issue Further!

After posting my last article regarding recent articles and research about agave, I have had feedback from some of my readers and even the owner of a reputable agave company listing out the pros and safety of using agave. Agave seems to be a very controversial topic and my goal is to provide my readers with the best research findings available.Yesterday I spent every spare moment reading anything I could find about the safety and processing of agave. The main positive claims that I found were all from companies who sell the product and/or do PR work for agave companies. That is probably my main red flag because I know these companies don’t want to lose profit on their product. That being said I received a very detailed email from the owner of XAgave who seemed very sincere and went to great length to explain every step that their agave product goes through from beginning to end and further assured that their agave was not only organic but 100% raw. I am going to meet with him in person in the near future and will report on our meeting.

Then I came across a typed interview given from the President of the Madhava agave company, which you can read here: http://alteredplates.blogspot.com/2008/12/madhavas-craig-gerbore-responds-to.html. He also claimed that they use no chemicals, pesticides and that it is not heated above 118-120 degrees.

The last company I found was Sunfood.com. This is the company that was started and backed by David Wolfe, the raw food pioneer. He is generally careful about what he recommends and only backs and sells at sunfood.com raw and pure foods. Here is my only concern, according to Dr. Mercola, he claims that David Wolfe is no longer associated with Sun Food’s agave because he too believes it is no longer a safe raw product to consume. I even came across a product that he made and uses maple syrup instead of agave and explains why: http://www.naturaw.com/sacred-chocolate/newsletter-2.html . So I am not sure what to conclude about Sun food’s agave but from what I read at their website they explain in detail the processing of it which would be raw and chemical free: http://www.sunfood.com/buy/1/103/515/Agave-Nectar–1-Gal–Amber-Premium–raw–certified-organic-/1159.aspx

What I am realizing is that there could possibly be a few good and trustworthy companies out there who are making a good quality product. However I believe that a majority of agave companies, even as much as 95% of the companies on the market, are not being honest about their processing and claims to be raw. I have read numerous articles stating that labs have randomly tested agave off the store shelves and found that the syrup was not raw and unnatural chemicals were present. There might be only a few naturally made raw agaves available on the market and until I know exactly which ones they might possibly be, I am going to stick with Yacon syrup, stevia and raw honey.

So yes, I think Mercola had some truthful points in his recent article and we should be cautious but he was a bit extreme with his accusations and comparisons, such as comparing agave to antifreeze. I think that comparison is a bit over the top. As with any extracted sweetener, it should always be consumed in moderation, whether it is a truly pure form of agave or raw honey. Our bodies are not made to consume large amounts of extracted sweeteners. If you are still using agave just be very moderate with its use until more concrete information is available about this syrup and stick to the three companies mentioned above. If it was a cheap bottle of agave then I would be hesitant to continue using it because I read in a report that to produce raw & chemical-free agave is extremely expensive, as much as $50 per pint, so good quality agave won’t be cheap.

If anyone has useful information in regards to the pros/cons of agave please send it to me. My goal is to come up with a list of safe agave companies who make raw, chemical-free syrup and then a list of companies to avoid. Like I said above, possibly 95% or even more of bottled agave syrup in the market is most likely heated, overly processed, and does not promote health. So be cautious and stay tuned for more information at my site.