Health Benefits - Canadian Organic Maple Syrup

Health Benefits of Maple Syrup

When you want to satisfy your sweet tooth, don't forget to consider using maple syrup which contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals than honey. It is available throughout the year in your local supermarket.
Maple syrup is sweet - and we're not just talking flavor. Maple syrup, as an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc, can also be sweet for your health.
Sweeten Your Antioxidant Defenses

The trace mineral manganese is an essential cofactor in a number of enzymes important in energy production and antioxidant defenses. For example, the key oxidative enzyme superoxide dismutase, which disarms free radicals produced within the mitochondria (the energy production factories within our cells), requires manganese. One ounce of maple syrup supplies 22.0% of the daily value for this very important trace mineral.
Be Sweet to Your Heart with Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is a good sweetener to use if you are trying to protect the health of your heart. The zinc supplied by maple syrup, in addition to acting as an antioxidant, has other functions that can decrease the progression of atherosclerosis. Zinc is needed for the proper function of endothelial cells and helps to prevent the endothelial damage caused by oxidized LDL cholesterol and other oxidized fats. (The endothelium is the inner lining of blood vessels.) Endothelial membranes low in zinc are much more prone to injury. Additionally, studies have found that in adults deficient in manganese, the other trace mineral amply supplied in maple syrup, the level of HDL (the "good" cholesterol) is decreased.
Sweet Support for Your Immune System

Zinc and manganese are important allies in the immune system. Many types of immune cells appear to depend upon zinc for optimal function. Particularly in children, researchers have studied the effects of zinc deficiency (and zinc supplementation) on their immune response and their number of white blood cells, including specific studies on T lymphocytes, macrophages, and B cells (all types of white blood cells important for immune defenses). In these studies, zinc deficiency has been shown to compromise numbers of white blood cell and immune response, while zinc supplementation has been shown to restore conditions to normal. In addition to the role played by zinc, the manganese in maple syrup is important since, as a component of the antioxidant SOD, it helps lessen inflammation, thus supporting healing. In addition, manganese may also act as an immunostimulant.
Real Healthy Men Use Maple Syrup

Maple syrup may help to support reproductive health and provides special benefits for men. Zinc is concentrated more highly in the prostate than in any other human tissue, and low levels of zinc in this gland relate to a higher risk for prostate cancer. In fact, zinc is a mineral used therapeutically by healthcare practitioners to help reduce prostate size. Manganese may also play a role in supporting men's health since, as a catalyst in the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol, it also participates in the production of sex hormones, thus helping to maintain reproductive health.
Safety

Maple syrup is not a commonly allergenic food and is not known to contain measurable amounts of goitrogens, oxalates, or purines.
Nutritional Profile

Maple syrup is an excellent source of the trace mineral manganese. It is also a good source of zinc. In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Maple syrup is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.
Following chart info:
Daily Value (DV) that that amount represents; the nutrient density rating.

Maple syrup
2.00 tsp
34.93 calories

Nutrient Amount DV
(%) Nutrient
Density World's Healthiest
Foods Rating

manganese 0.44 mg 22.0 11.3 excellent
zinc 0.55 mg 3.7 1.9 good

World's Healthiest
Foods Rating Rule

excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10%

very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5%

good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.5%

References

Many thanks for the Information compiled by: World's Healthies Foods Web site/Maple Syrup

Information derived from:

Ensminger AH, Ensminger, ME, Kondale JE, Robson JRK. Foods & Nutriton Encyclopedia. Pegus Press, Clovis, California 1983

Ensminger AH, Esminger M. K. J. e. al. Food for Health: A Nutrition Encyclopedia. Clovis, California: Pegus Press; 1986, PMID: 15210

Fortin, Francois, Editorial Director. The Visual Foods Encyclopedia. Macmillan, New York 1996

Wood, Rebecca. The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall Press; 1988, PMID: 15220

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