What Sweetener Should You Choose? Sugar? Honey? Agave Nectar?
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Let’s face it. Eventually, we all want something sweet. So when you do decide to make dessert at home, what sweetener should you reach for? What should you put in your coffee? We all know that it shouldn’t be anything with high-fructose corn syrup because, so we’re told, that high level of fructose will mess you up and make you fat. But just how much worse for you is high-fructose corn syrup than sugar? Or honey? It’s time for a science lesson.
Understanding Sugars
There are five sugars known as monosaccharides: glucose, fructose, galactose, xylose, and ribose.(1) These five sugars serve as the building blocks of the disaccharides that we all know and love: sucrose, lactose, maltose, trehalose, and cellobiose.(2) We’re going to focus specifically on two of the monosaccharides, glucose and fructose, and one of the disaccharides, sucrose.
Glucose is the main energy of cellular function, metabolized by most every cell in the body. It fuels your cells, and while not technically necessary for the body to function (it can operate on fuel derived from fat and protein), some level of glucose from carbohydrates is a nice to have, especially if you engage in high-intensity activity. The body works very hard to keep blood glucose in a narrow range, through careful administration of insulin. Too high and all kinds of damage can be done, too low and all kinds of death can occur. So really only one kind of death, but in the grand scheme, isn’t one enough?
Fructose is a sugar found mainly in fruits, which undergoes metabolic processing in the liver. The main problem with fructose is that little piece about needing to be metabolized by the liver. Studies have suggested that consuming too much fructose messes up all kinds of things in the body.(3) Some show a correlation with obesity. Fructose tends to promote an increase in triglycerides in the blood, which are a definite marker for heart disease. Other studies have shown that fructose pulls important minerals from the blood, chelating them out of the body. This little gem also increases levels of uric acid in the body, an abundance of which brings about the symptoms of gout. Studies have shown fatty liver disease from too much fructose, making the liver look like that of an alcoholic. And finally, fructose reduces circulating insulin, leptin, and ghrelin levels, hormones which control satiety and appetite.
Sugar Content Of Various Sweeteners
So seeing that fructose may be the detrimental factor in sweeteners, it seems that our goal should be to reduce the fructose content as much as possible. Let’s compare some different types of sugar added to common products. First, there’s high-fructose corn syrup, which is “available” in three different formulations: HFCS-90, HFCS-55, and HFCS-42.(4) HFCS-55, the type most commonly used in soft drinks, is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. HFCS-42, used most often in baked goods, is 42% fructose and 58% glucose. HFCS-90 is used almost exclusively to produce the other two types. HFCS is the bane of humanity, according to most nutritionists, responsible for everything from the obesity epidemic to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
Then there’s sucrose, comprised of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The weak bond between the two monosaccharides is cleaved in a weakly acidic environment. Since the stomach is a highly acidic environment, you can see that sucrose doesn’t stand a chance and each molecule of sucrose eaten yields a molecule of glucose straight to the blood and one of fructose straight to the liver. Obviously that isn’t much of an improvement over the 55% fructose content of HFCS and is actually worse than the HFCS-42 used in baked goods. But you’ll not hear that because it doesn’t make a good sound bite.
Most often, I hear people talking about avoiding products with HFCS or sugar and opting instead for a “natural sweetener” like honey or agave nectar. Surely these all-natural forms of sugar are more healthful, right? Well, certainly not in terms of fructose content. Honey typically has about the same ratio as HFCS. Agave nectar can range from 56-92% fructose, depending on the brand. There are other options like evaporated cane juice, which vary in quantity of sucrose (and therefore fructose), but the best number I came up with was 85-95% sucrose, meaning 42.5-47.5% fructose.(5) The only mark I’ll give them above other sweeteners is that they’re less processed.
Opening The Can Of Worms
Now, I hear the murmurs in the audience, “so if fructose is bad and fructose is found mainly in fruits, does that mean we should avoid fruits?” Let’s look at the percentage of fructose in some common fruits, compared to equal portions of sucrose, honey, and HFCS-55.
Total Fructose Per 100g of Common Fruits (6)
| Fruit | Fructose | Sucrose | Total Fructose | Total Sugars | % Fructose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 7.6 | 3.3 | 9.3 | 13.3 | 70% |
| Grape | 7.6 | 0.0 | 7.6 | 18.1 | 42% |
| Strawberry | 2.5 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 51.8% |
| Mango | 2.9 | 9.9 | 7.9 | 14.8 | 53.4% |
| Papaya | 2.7 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 5.9 | 61% |
| Sucrose | 0.0 | 97.0 | 48.5 | 97.0 | 50% |
| Honey | 42.4 | 1.5 | 43.2 | 81.9 | 52.7% |
| HFCS-55 | 42.4 | 0.0 | 42.4 | 77.0 | 55.1% |
Uh oh…look at those apples and papayas. They have a high percentage of fructose, higher even than honey, sugar, and HFCS-55. Does that mean they’re bad? Not necessarily. Look at the total amount of sugar per 100g, then couple that with some fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other goodies that you don’t get in the sweeteners, contributing bulk that limits how much you can eat. So let’s not get twisted over fructose and think that means fruit is bad. I will say, unequivocally, that fruit is good. Some people need to watch the quantity because of the sugar content, but it’s unlikely you’re going to get fatty liver from apples (the highest fructose fruit I found).
Emptying The Can Of Worms
So in an effort to wrap this up before hitting 10,000 words, let’s conclude. I have stated something similar in my previous post on PCC Natural Markets in Seattle banning products with HFCS and a discussion of sugar subsidies. High-fructose corn syrup is a scapegoat. It’s a scary name to throw out in a news report and banning it gets some of us health freaks all giddy. But let’s get real and deal with the facts. “High-fructose” is a modifier for the words “corn syrup” meaning that HFCS has more fructose, and hence more sweetness, than regular corn syrup. It is not a comparative term to other sweeteners. All of the sweeteners available in the store are just as high in fructose, as you can see above.
Don’t assume that a cookie or soft drink made with raw sugar or agave nectar or something else “natural” is healthful. Organic junk is still junk. I don’t care if it’s a cookie made with USDA-certified organic evaporated cane juice plowed under a Fair Trade banner. Your body doesn’t care either. Sugar is sugar once it hits the stomach acid and bloodstream. Just because it’s sold at Whole Foods does not make it good for you.
So what’s the best sugar you can eat? None. If you need (and I use that term loosely) to add something to your food or drink, use the least processed that you can get, which would be either honey or probably evaporated cane juice, and use sparingly. In the end though, avoid sweeteners as much as possible and stick to the natural sweetness of blueberries, apples, and papaya. We can argue until we’re blue in the face about what fruits are best due to lower fructose content and all of that, but if I can get someone to drop the cakes, sodas, and cookies, I bet they can eat apples all day long and be just fine.
Sources:
(1) Monosaccharide
(2) Disaccharide
(3) Fructose
(4) High-fructose Corn Syrup
(5) Guide to Natural Sweeteners
(6) Table of Fruits and Sugars
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I don’t care if it’s a cookie made with USDA-certified organic evaporated cane juice plowed under a Fair Trade banner
LOL!! Great line, Scott.
You scared me a little bit with that table since I have a sweet Fuji everyday either in my salad, or as wedges with a little almond butter spread on top (aka Dave’s Daily Apple). But I feel ok doing that as long as I avoid the almost daily stack of donuts to be found at our office!!
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Another great post. Informative. I’ve been wondering how bad/good fruit was good for you. I really only eat berries with breakfast and sometimes and apple or pear sauteed with blue cheese. So for 99% of the time I eat fruit its with at least plenty of fat. I’m trying to get my fiancee to eat her almost daily apple with some kind of fat/protein.
I’m definitely reading to much info and this blog too often. I read the first line about sperm and immediately came to the same “hypothesis” you did. Then kept reading and saw you did also. Thought it was funny.
It would be great to see one of these for artificial sweeteners. I’ve been trying to cut back. I bring in my own splenda for coffee at work. 1/2 packet each for my two cups. Some for iced coffee on the weekends. Don’t use too much in cooking on a regular basis. Though every now and then, we do for something. Wondering specifically about stuff like splenda, oligofructuse, stevia, etc. Especially ones with a glycemic index approaching zero.
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Thanks for telling others. We have had great reports from people using trehalose as a food to replace regular table sugar. It appears to be a very positive functional brain food. http://www.endowmentmed.org
JC
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I doubt there’s much to the sperm thing. We’re really promiscous as a species and mating competition is fierce. It would be a seriously bad evolutionary strategy to hamstring your sperms in some periods in order to time the births optimally.
For the genes it’s much, much better to take shot right now at offspring that’s 50% more likely to die, than wait a couple of months for a better survival rate. Because there’s a really good chance that some other male will have done the impregnating by then.
I’d guess that it’s just more efficient for the sperms “motor” to run on a single fuel type.
I do think there’s lots of reason to believe that functions of the female body is evolved to handle, among other things, the timing of child birth. I think it’s something like the vast majority of all conceptions being naturally terminated without either man or woman having a clue about them.
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Dave, sorry to alarm you.
Joe, be glad she’s eating the apple and not something else. I’ll see what I can do about putting together something on artificial sweeteners. In the meantime, here are four older articles that I’ve tagged as being about artificial sweeteners.
JC, how is trehalose a “functional brain food”? I’m interested to hear more.
JRF, you’re probably right. As I said, just a top-of-the-head hypothesis. Makes sense from one standpoint, but probably not from most others.
Cheers
Scott
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Mark Sisson had a recent post on artificial sweetners here.
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Super post, Scott. I think sugar misconceptions are right up there with misunderstandings about dietary fats. And unfortunately, the myths about both are just as persistent.
Just yesterday my son and I were at the local “natural” food store getting a couple of items during a quick shopping trip (not WF, but much like a smaller, local version) and there was a table set up in the produce dept where several kids & moms were gathered around. Some company rep was distributing samples vegan organic lollipops and fruit leather products, blathering on about how the sugar was natural, Fair Trade, and organic and there was a full day of Vitamin C in their products, it was blessed by the Dali Lamai (ok, I’m kidding about the blessing). The moms and kids were lapping it up. You know the hype.
Despite every urge not to, I behaved myself, and just moved on past to get the things I needed, but you can imagine what I wanted to say! My son never said anything, other than asking if he could help himself to a tortilla chip and salsa sample, nor did I say anything to him about the organic vegan candy situation, but I’m sure, like most kids, he would have loved to have gotten a sample of the candy, too, especially as we passed kids all over the store with these lollipops in their mouths.
But later on the way home, he asked me if organic sugar in candy was just as bad for teeth and health as regular sugar. First I asked him what he thought. He thought it probably was.
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[...] Modern Forager considers which sweetener is best. [...]
Hi Scott,
Wow, what a great site! Anna (who commented above) sent me here to check it out. She’s a frequent (and favorite) commenter on my blog and has started quite a string of comments about Agave and other sweeteners there. I’m definitely adding a link on that post to this one.
Thanks,
Kelly p.s. Your “about” page sounds similar to mine in some ways…it’s always great to find someone else “singing the same song”.
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The best choice for an occasional sweetener is probably barley malt syrup or brown rice syrup. Neither have any fructose at all, just various chains of glucose. Both are also high in antioxidants, particularly barley malt. Both have been used in the human diet for thousands of years.
For powder you could try barley malt powder or dextrose (glucose) powder, neither of which has any fructose. These are more processed than the syrups, especially the dextrose, which is derived from corn. I don’t know if the dextrose has large amounts of carbonyls, which are toxic, and which exist in large amounts in sodas with HFCS. These may be created during the enzyme processing of corn starches into sugars. These are one reason that HFCS is, in fact, worse for the body than sucrose, despite the fact that both have roughly equivalent amounts of fructose.
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Anna, it sounds like your son understands nutrition better than most 9 year olds. That’s going to be beneficial throughout life.
Kelly, thanks for the kudos! Dig your site…will check it out a bit more soon.
Walter, good info on the barley malt and brown rice syrups. Interesting stuff on the carbonyls…never heard of them. I’ll have to do some reading.
Cheers
Scott
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I’ve read that grade b maple syrup and maple sugar have exceptional trace mineral content. Also Raw unfiltered honey too…with active enzymes to help digest carbohydrates. Info. sounds great on barley malt and brown rice syrup, i will have to look into that too! i don’t even know why i care about this…i hardly use sugar anyways…
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Peter from Hyperlipid uses a little glucose powder to sweeten things. Sounds like a good strategy.
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If I recall correctly, Jonny Bowden recommends either blackstrap molasses (The stuff that’s left over after most of the sugar has already been drawn out of it), or unprocessed, unfiltered honey (Not the heat treated, processed stuff). He’s not really strong about either, but seems to believe that they have more ‘nutritional bang for the buck’ than other sweeteners that, at best, just aren’t BAD for you.
I myself use about 1/3 of a pack of Sweet-N-Low per mug of green tea (I drink 4-5 a day on average), and 1/2 to 1 pack in Coffee.
You mentioned ribose as another mono-saccharide. Dr. Stephen Sinatra has talked a lot about using ribose as a supplement, not as a sweetener, and I’ve seen his comments reflected in both Jonny Bowden’s and Dr. Michael Eades’ blogs and/or books. I’ve only read a few articles by Dr. Sinatra, but I’m looking to read more.
Any thoughts of your own?
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Bob,
I don’t really know anything about ribose or blackstrap molasses. I’ve heard of using blackstrap molasses and it’s supposed to have good levels of vitamins. Nonetheless, I can’t render an opinion as I’ve done no research on the topic.
Cheers
Scott
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Just to let you know, I linked back to this post from here:
The Worst Sugar Pushers of all – Health Food Stores
…since yours is a great post to give some more technical background to those who want it.
In the UK, health food stores seem to consider it acceptable to sell foods that contain huge amounts of sugar. I would be interested to know whether this applies elsewhere and if so, to what extent.
To me this is a scandal or greater proportions than the general inclusion of sugar in processed foods, since health food stores they are by implication selling food that is healthy so when it turns out not to be we should be angry….
Methuselah
Pay Now Live Later
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Wow, I stumbled across this article while searching for information on sugars for my diabetic friend who thinks jam sweetened with fruit rather than raw sugar is “better”. This is a great read and I’m subscribing to your blog. (I like to consider myself a forager, as well – been hard at work gathering blackberries this season!)
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[...] a relief. Somebody should tell Scott Kustes, over at Modern Forager. His has no idea that this is of “little consequence.” He wasted his time writing an [...]
[...] made the case before that high-fructose corn syrup really isn’t much worse for you than sugar. Further, I recently discussed two of the commercials from the corn lobby attempting to prove that [...]
[...] pela indústria alimentar por razões económicas e produtivas, tornando-o no adoçante actualmente mais utilizado em todo o mundo, tendo já destronado o secular [...]
Once again a great post! Thank you for all of the tips. I usually use honey in my tea and coffee, it seems the least harmful, plus I can’t stand the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners.
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What about xylitol? I’m thinking of buying a jar of that for sweetening things instead of sugar or honey.
For a review of studies on fructose, triglycerides and cholesterol, see:
http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-does-fructose-affect-triglyceride.html
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JLL – my Mum has just bought some xylitol for use in occasional baking. She recently went paleo but was finding it really hard to bake. She is using chestnut flour and coconut oil but was lacking a sweetener that would have the same effect on consistency as sugar. Whilst I have an instinctive aversion to anything granulated, it does feel as if on the basis of our current knowledge, xylitol is one of the least bad options, so I relutantly approved the purchase!
We’ll probably find out in 20 years that it causes cancer, so I would use it for treats only.
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[...] good articles: What Sweetener Should You Choose? Sugar? Honey? Agave Nectar? USDA Data Sets [...]
[...] sugar content. Don’t worry. We will start in on artificial sweeteners soon enough. ARTICLE: What Sweetener Should You Choose? Sugar? Honey? Agave Nectar? Fructose is a sugar found mainly in fruits, which undergoes metabolic processing in the liver. The [...]
Ahh, but I LOVE sugar!
I’ve just started recently cutting back on my diet, you wouldn’t believe how much sugary processed foods I ate. Now I have relatively few [I do have some, but not as much as I'm use to] and once those are gone, I’ll be sure to avoid them.
I’ve known that HFCS was over hyped, but I wasn’t sure about anything else. Thanks for the article.
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Excellent article. You answered my questions and confusion about fructose and different kinds of sugar sources after reading many well respected journalists on the subject! Thank you.
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[...] you are more interested in the composition of agave nectar and such, click here or here or here or here. [...]
What an incredably BS argument – that fructose is bad unless its in fruit because fruit has other good things in it…what sense does that make? How can anything bad be less bad because of something completely unrelated?? Thats like saying getting shot is bad, unless your shot by a gun that has 2 safties on it, because 2 safties is a good thing. Complete BS arguement. What not just say the truth…we know fructose isnt bad for you because we’ve been eating since our species stopped flinging poop (and before). Nothing could be more natural. (by the way the chemical makeup is the same regarless of the source) Too much probably is bad, as is too much anything.
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What?, I think you missed the point. The key is that it’s hard to overdose on fructose in fruit. Not so with sweeteners. Nothing else was stated.
Cheers
Scott
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[...] months past, I’ve taken a look at the various sweeteners available and which is best. I also considered the arguments for and against the notion that high-fructose corn syrup is worse [...]
I use erythritol and stevia–zero carbs and calories, great taste, already present in nature! They’re pretty neutral as far as their effects on the human body, no matter how “processed” they are. That’s the important aspect of the sweetener you choose! I’d take Splenda over agave any day for that reason.
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[...] months past, I’ve taken a look at the various sweeteners available and which is best. I also considered the arguments for and against the notion that high-fructose corn syrup is worse [...]
To the commenter (skustes) that suggests this author’s arguments are BS, you just might be mistaken. The digestive tract and metabolic pathways are a bit more complicated than a bullet. The idea that fructose, when consumed with fruit is not as bad is totally valid. Similar to the idea that fiber lowers cholesterol by altering absorption, components in an apple can reduce absorption of fructose in the digestive tract.
This author pointed out also that the large amounts of fructose being consumed in processed foods is the problem when compared to smaller amounts of fructose in an apple. 100 grams of an apple has 7 grams of fructose, but 8 oz of soda has about 20 grams of fructose. The point of this article is that America is overdosing on added sweeteners.
Although we’ve been eating natural sources of fructose for centuries, we weren’t doing so in high doses. Trans fats are also “natural” in that we consume some trans fats from animal sources. However, when they were created in labs and fed to Americans in high doses, they contributed to heart disease. The jury is still out on HFCS, and to caution against consuming too much of it is intelligent and sound. Your calls of “BS” are a bit strong for your apparent knowledge.
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fructose in high doses,
I think you were directing that at the commenter named “What?”
I think we’re either in violent agreement or your comment wasn’t actually directed at me. I’m the author of this article and completely agree with what you just wrote.
Cheers
Scott
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This is a great article. I especially agree with the fact that honey, (even raw honey), agave nectar and other “natural sugars” are just as full of fructose as HFCS and plain old white sugar. I think all sugar, even in fruit should be viewed with caution. One of the things parents do is let their kids drink juice which is really, really bad. Juice is totally addictive and has all kinds of health implications. I don’t think fruit juice should be in the same category as fruit and none of it should be eaten the way we eat now. You can walk into any market at any time of year and buy just about any fruit. This way of eating coincides with the massive health problems of the last fifty years. Fruit was scarce and seasonal and so was honey up until recently.
I’ve recently gone “fructose free” including fruit for weeks at a time. The benefits to my health have been great, but it hasn’t been easy. Those sugar pushers are everywhere, especially in our so called health food stores!
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Being a diabetic has taught me much about sugar consumption. The one thing I do know, is that I can’t have any of it. Sweeteners, like Splenda or Equal are not very good choices, but in a world where sugar does not exist, coffee just would not be the same.
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Jenny, I do use some honey, but I think it’s a good idea to moderate intake. Now that I’m not sprinting on a daily basis, I’ve ditched most of the honey I was using (which wasn’t much to begin with). I agree with you about fruit juice…it’s highly processed and even without added sugars, it is still a whollop of sugar, even if it is natural. How did your “fructose free” eating go?
Juan, try coconut milk.
I love black coffee!
Cheers
Scott
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[...] else? How about a buildup of excess fructose in our diets (high fructose corn syrup and sugar, anyone?)…that builds up in our liver, forms fatty deposits and takes us down the road of [...]
Sugar is a dangerous substance, sweet yes, but deadly. Sugar consumption can rob your body of precious vitamins and minerals, since sugar causes the body to dispel it from the system.
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The problem with glucose, though, is that some conditions are exacerbated by straight glucose. Cluster headaches, for example, while a relatively rare condition, are often triggered by glucose intake.
It is misleading to equate the glucose and fructose in sucrose to their monosaccharide brethren, because they are metabolized differently – they must be broken down by the body, whereas fructose and glucose are not. For conditions such as cluster headaches, polysaccharides such as sucrose do not seem to trigger the headaches, while straight glucose does.
Another key point is that corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are not equivalent. Corn syrup is nearly straight glucose. High fructose corn syrup mixes in fructose so that the proportions of glucose/fructose are similar to those of honey.
It is, in my opinion, inaccurate and misleading to indicate that any one sweetener is “better” than others. Whether a sweetener is “better” depends on the health situation of the person and how much sweetener is being consumed in what form. Whole foods are, in all cases, infinitely preferable to their refined counterparts, as refined products cannot mimic the micronutrients and nutritional profile of whole food.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxuS_NQUrNg&NR=1
For the story of what, in the field of micro-biology, we’re really talking
about. This is a great series of vids of a talk by someone who knows the
science. With respect to having eaten fruit for forever, Id say look at the history
of agriculture and how humans have ‘created’ the sweeter fruits. Apples of 5000
years ago were small and sour and not anything like its bred cousins.
Of course there are tropical fruits that have not been changed, but the circumstances of the environment and the diets of the hunter-gatherers were high in fat and protein, creating high enough levels of gherlin to satisfy on much smaller amounts of fruit/sugar than our current diets.
Its not that any of these things are ‘bad’. I think that way of thinking is rather childlike and unhelpful. Rather, there are consequences for the choices we make, and the knowledge to make informed choices, as well as to recognize individuals have vastly varied responses due to various factors…One of the things that fascinates me in these talks is the mention of the rice-farmer in Japan
that having a high sucrose diet, but no fructose, will still get you to a heart attack
due to the blocked arteries, but it will take 90 years. On the other hand, the Okinawans for example
eat very little rice or any sucrose, their diet being high in pork, veggies, and fish, and they live considerably longer than main island Japanese. So am I willing to eat very little of ANY carb (other than veggies, obviously or Id be a mess) to live an
extra couple decades? How do I feel? Is the damage worth the enjoyment? I am willing to sacrifice a bit of longevity for an occasional pizza, Ive decided that much at least.
Conscious choices I think are some of the most important elements to any of these conversations.
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