Maple Syrup Health Benefits

The health benefits of maple syrup are attributed to the presence of various vitamins and minerals. For example, a quarter-cup of maple syrup contains 100% of the recommended daily value of manganese, which improves energy production and is necessary for normal brain and nerve function. It also provides 37% of the daily value of riboflavin, which aids in metabolic process, and 18% of the daily value of zinc, which is essential for a healthy immune system. Other minerals found in maple syrup are magnesium, calcium, and potassium, which help to decrease the risk of hypertension and stroke.

Health Canada provides nutritional value information for pure maple syrup as well as other common sweeteners, including honey, white sugar, brown sugar, and agave syrup (below) .

Health Canada also provides information on calories and sugars in maple syrup compared to other sweeteners (below).

Finally – to further our case for the health benefits of maple syrup – according to recent studies:

• pure maple syrup does not cause the same spike in insulin levels as some other sugars do; and 
• pure maple syrup has the same beneficial classes of polyphenlolic compounds that are found in berries, tomatoes, tea, red wine, whole wheat, and flax seed.