Expert: Dr. Kristina Conner - 4/9/2010

Question
i have heard mixed results about using agave...the latest article i came across was from mercola (a trusted site)...is this true??

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/30/beware-of-the-agav...

thanks for your help. peace ~

Answer
Hello Mahdiyah,
Thanks for your question.  All sweeteners have a downside and shouldn't be used in large quantities, because even it's a natural sugar the body will have a similar reaction.  As far as the specific claims in this article I couldn't evaluate without looking at the original information.  Dr Mercola is very knowledgeable but also quite biased, so I don't think I would rely on him alone (or single person as a sole source of information).  The bottom line is that agave is a relatively new sweetener (especially in the quantities some people are consuming it in), so people should probably exercise some caution.  
In health,
Dr Conner