A team from Laval University in Quebec has discovered compelling evidence that replacing just two tablespoons of refined sugar with pure maple syrup could significantly reduce several key risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. Their results were published in The Journal of Nutrition Volume 154, October 2024. Their study involved a randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover trial with 42 overweight adults. Participants were instructed to substitute 5% of their total caloric intake from added sugars with either maple syrup or a sucrose syrup for 8 wk. The study concluded that:
Substituting refined sugars with maple syrup in individuals with mild metabolic alterations result in a significantly greater reduction of key cardiometabolic risk factors compared with substitution with sucrose syrup, in association with specific changes in gut microbiota.
We already knew that substituting maple syrup for refined sugar was a tasty trade-off, but these health benefits make an even more compelling case for changing.
This study did not include the use of maple sugar, but it's quite possible it would have the same effect since it is made only from pure maple syrup.
