A new study published by «The Journal of Nutrition» found that replacing refined sugar with pure maple syrup can reduce the main cardiac metabolic risk factors in patients with mild metabolism, and the potential health benefits of maple syrup in humans have been effectively verified.

Maple syrup can improve cardiac metabolism risk factors

A total of 42 volunteers who were overweight and at a mild risk of cardiac metabolism participated in the study . They were between 18 and 75 years old and had a body mass index ( BMI ) of 23 to 40. The volunteers replaced 5% of their daily calorie intake (equivalent to two tablespoons) with Canadian maple syrup or artificially seasoned sucrose syrup for 8 weeks. This study aims to evaluate the effect of equal amounts of maple syrup instead of refined sugar on glucose homeostasis (primary results); cardiac metabolic risk factors, including changes in lipid profile, blood pressure, body fat composition (measured by DEXA scan) (secondary results); and changes in intestinal flora (exploratory results).

Common metabolic combined risk factors include abdominal obesity, glucose metabolism abnormalities, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, which increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The research results found that replacing refined sugar with maple syrup can reduce blood sugar fluctuations during the oral glucose tolerance test ( OCTT ), which can significantly reduce the area under the curve of glucose ( AUC ), while replacing refined sugar with sucrose syrup can increase AUC . Refined sugar with maple syrup can reduce male fat mass and systolic pressure, while refined sugar with sucrose syrup increases these parameters. The systolic pressure in the maple syrup group decreased significantly ( -2.72 mmHg), while the systolic pressure in the sucrose syrup group increased slightly ( +0.87 mmHg).

The fat mass of male volunteers in the maple syrup group decreased significantly ( -7.83 g), while the fat mass (abdominal fat) increased significantly ( +67.61 g) in the sucrose syrup group.

One unexpected finding was that participants who consume maple syrup had increased levels of potentially beneficial gut bacteria, while those who consumed maple syrup had decreased levels of potentially harmful gut bacteria. Studies have shown that in participants who consume maple syrup, Klebsiella and Bacteroides pectinophilus were significantly less in their bodies related to inflammation and metabolic disorders than in the sucrose syrup group. In addition, the consumption of maple syrup significantly increased the growth of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus casei and Clostridium Byere.

Natural sweetener—maple syrup

Maple syrup is made in late winter or early spring, with maple juice collected from sugar maple trees ( Acer saccharum ) boiling and concentrating. The syrup made from maple sap collected in the early maple season is lighter in color, while the syrup made after the weather gets warmer is darker in color. Lighter-colored maple syrup is usually sweet and has no other prominent flavours, while darker-colored maple syrup has a caramel flavor that is suitable for mixing with lighter syrup for a more classic "maple flavor". Maple syrup is a natural sweetener with a slightly lower sweetness than honey and a sugar content of about 66% (honey has a sugar content of about 79% to 81% ).

Currently, Canada and the United States are the top two producers of maple syrup. In North America, people usually add maple syrup to breakfast foods, such as waffles, cakes, pancakes, cereals, etc. On December 7 , DSM Firme announced its 2025 "flavor of the year" - Milky Maple , a flavor combination of milk and rich maple syrup. This innovative flavor combination will attract more food-loving consumers in 2025 .

Fortune market data shows that the maple syrup market size is US$ 1.44 billion in 2023 , and is expected to grow from US$ 1.54 billion in 2024 to US$ 2.62 billion by 2032 , with a compound annual growth rate of 6.91% during the forecast period . The maple syrup market size is expected to grow significantly due to the increasing demand for low-sugar and healthy sweeteners from consumers.

Other benefits of maple syrup

Whether natural or artificial, excessive consumption of sweeteners can lead to obesity problems. However, some studies have shown that eating maple syrup is good for human health as an alternative sweetener in your diet.

The main components of maple syrup include sucrose, phenolic substances (Quebec phenol, etc.), minerals (potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, aluminum, etc.), organic acids (malic acid, fumaric acid, etc.), amino acids (arginine, threonine, proline, etc.), plant hormones (saffron and abscisic acid and their metabolites) and vitamins (niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, etc.). In addition to improving a variety of cardiac metabolism risk factors, these components give maple syrup more health benefits: such as anti-aging, anti-alergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic properties.

Anti-aging:

Aaron et al. evaluated the effect of maple syrup on TDP-43 protein toxicity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) . ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes death of motor neurons. Research has shown that maple syrup reduces many age-related phenotypes by attenuating TDP-43 in C. elegans motor neurons that maintain neuronal integrity during aging.

Anti-inflammatory:

Quebecol is a polyphenol compound isolated from maple syrup. It has a significant inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced activation of nuclear factor κ B (NF- κ B) at a concentration of 100 mM . Quebecol prevents LPS -catalyzed macrophages from excreting proinflammatory factors interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF- α ) . In addition, studies have evaluated the effect of maple syrup extract ( MSX ) on liver gene expression in mice with high-fat diet (HFD) . The results showed that MSX improved the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism and immune response in feeding mice, and MSX intake relieves liver inflammation caused by HFD .

Anti-Alzheimer's disease:

Rose et al. gave mice with Alzheimer's disease ( AD ) orally administered 100 and 200 mg/kg MSX daily for 30 days. The results show that MSX reduces the expression of several inflammatory proteins, including stimulation of the interferon gene TMEM173 and inhibition of cytokine signaling -6 (SOCS6) . In addition, MSX can reduce β - amyloid peptide tremor in a concentration-dependent manner . If cell proteins are incorrectly covered, coagulate, accumulate and evolve into plaques, it will lead to Alzheimer's disease, which is the main component of amyloid plaques in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease.