Agave Nectar, The High Fructose Health Food Fraud

[Guest guest]

Here is an incredible article by _Ramiel Nagel_

(http://www.yourreturn.org/Articles/About_Me2.htm) . 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 " _Cure Tooth Decay_

(http://www.curetoothdecay.com/Tooth_Decay/Cure_tooth_decay.htm) " 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 " _Healing Our Children_

(http://www.healingourchildren.net/) " 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: _Butter Versus Margarine_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/11/24/butter_versus_margarine.htm)

**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 _toxic melamine_

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

ine_you_say_hmm.htm) .**

**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 _magnesium_

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

d_chronic_disease

s.htm) , _copper_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm)

and _chromium_

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

ox_doctors_chromium_more.htm) . (6)

**High fructose from agave or corn will kill a _diabetic_

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

ox_doctors_chromiu

m_more.htm) 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

_buy from a local _ (http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2006/05/07/10

0_mile_diet_local_food_recipe_for_health.htm) 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.**

Gupta

_http://tinyurl.com/_ (http://tinyurl.com/6bn5bj) _6bn5bj_

(http://tinyurl.com/6bn5bj)

_http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2008/11/17/agave_nectar_the_high_fructo

se_health_food_fraud.htm_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2008/11/17/agave_nectar_the_high_fructose\

_health_food_fraud.htm)

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

See also:

_Sugar Consumption and Pancreatic Cancer_

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

ic_cancer.htm)

_At Last - Why Sugar Kills!_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/11/23/at_last_why_sugar_kills.htm)

_Why Is Sugar A Problem?_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/11/03/why_is_sugar_a_problem.htm)

_A Sweet Solution to Fund Raising - Sugar & Colour_

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

ng_sugar_colour.htm)

_The Negative Impact of Sugar on Vitamin C_

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

n_vitamin_c.htm)

_Why the Government " just said no " to Less Sugar_

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

o_to_less_sugar.htm)

_Fibiger's Work on Cancer & Sugar_

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

htm)

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

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 _magnesium_

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

d_chronic_diseases.htm) , _copper_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm)

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. 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 _toxic melamine_

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

ine_you_say_hmm.htm) .

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 _diabetics_

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

ox_doctors_chromium_more.

htm) . **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. ph Mercola

The Truth About the Drug Companies by Marcia Angell

In Defense of Food by Pollan -

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Pollan -

Sugar Shock! by Connie

Super Size Me by Spurlock

Fast Food Nation, Schlosser

Welcome to Food Politics by n Nestle

Generation Rx, Greg Crister

Bad Foods, Oakes

Food Fight by Dan Imhof

The Sugar Fix, Gower,

Please Don't Eat the Wallpaper, Dr. Irven

Understanding R Epidemic, Sylivia Ledoux 2008

Fat Politics by J. Oliver

Obesity Epidemiology, Hu

Articles Links

1. (_http://www.madhavasagave.com/AgavePromo.aspx_

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

2.

(_http://www.wholesomesweeteners.com/brands/Wholesome_Sweeteners/Organic_Raw_Blu\

e_Agave.html_

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

_Agave.html) )

3. (_http://www.madhavahoney.com/agave.htm_

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

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

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

5. (_http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/annotate/node/132_

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

6. (_http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/highfructose.html_

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

Beltsville studies)

7. (_http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08597.pdf_

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

8. (_http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3289/is_/ai_55084258_

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

9. (_http://www.volcanicnectar.com/blueagavefaq.html_

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

10.

(_http://childbirthsolutions.org/articles/pregnancy/herbsandvit/index.php_

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

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

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

)

(_http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081016074701.htm_

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

(_http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537_

(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_

(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 M. Rolph, 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. ph Mercola, 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 n

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, , Editor

National Institutes Of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases of the US

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

Satcher, MD, And US Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy F. , 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. 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

_Isomerization of glucose and fructose at web site_

(http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/IMMOB/poppezz/hfcs.html)

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

Boston Globe, By Saltus. Triglyceride levels are a precursor to the

formation of low density lipoproteins (LDL or 'bad' cholesterol) conducted by

M. Gotto, Jr, MD, Dean of Cornell University Medical College in New

York, 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, land has conducted several

studies directly linking laboratory animals (rats and pigs) with rapid _copper_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/10/21/heart_disease_and_copper.htm)

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

*moderate* High Fructose Corn Syrup ingestion. , PhD, lead

scientist at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, land 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, land, 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 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. , MD:

_www.alternativehealth.com/.au/sugar_

(http://www.alternativehealth.com/.au/sugar)

_www.mercola.com _ (http://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, M. Gapstur, MD, Gann,

MD, Love, MD, Kiang Liu, MD, 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 Hausman & Judith Benn Hurley, Rodale Press,

1989, ISBN 0-87857-812-9

The Food Revolution by Robbins, forward by Dean Ornish, MD, Founder &

President Of The Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor Of

Medicine, University Of California At San Francisco, _www.ornish.com_

(http://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_

(http://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

_High Intensity Sweetener Blends by Walters, PhD, Contributing Editor

of Food Product Design Magazine_

(http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/cgi-bin/www.foodproductdesign,com.archive/1993)

Sucralose Safety: _www.mercola.com_ (http://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, **_Healing Our

Children_ (http://www.healingourchildren.net/) ** and **_Cure Tooth Decay_

(http://www.curetoothdecay.com/) **

Free health information is available online at: _www.yourreturn.org_

(http://www.yourreturn.org/) , _www.preconceptionhealth.org _ (http:/

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