Better than sugar? Maple syrup reduces metabolic diseases

2024-03-11 13:58:14

Ditching refined sugar and replacing it with maple syrup would help mitigate certain negative effects of a diet rich in fat and sugar, notably by reducing the risk of hyperglycemia, according to researchers at Laval University.

Scientists compared two groups of mice with a diet high in fat and sugar. However, they had modified the intake of one of the groups by replacing a quarter of the refined sugar consumption with maple syrup.

This represented 10% of the total calories consumed daily, which is what might be considered as a dietary modification in humans, according to André Marette, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec. (IUCPQ).

Listen to the interview with André Marette, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec on QUB:

The experts then noticed that maple syrup had reduced the digestion of refined sugar, but also the intestinal absorption of glucose and the accumulation of lipids in the liver.

“We found that glucose metabolism was less impaired in mice that consumed maple syrup,” explained the professor.

The livers of the mice with maple syrup also had triglyceride concentrations – which helps store fat reserves in the body – almost half as high as those of the other mice.

“The result is that there are fewer carbohydrates absorbed and which pass into the blood circulation, therefore less hyperglycemia, and fewer carbohydrates transformed into triglycerides in the liver,” explained the man who is also a researcher at the Institute. on Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF).

However, this study must be taken with caution, stressed the researcher, since this does not mean that maple syrup will help cure diabetes.

“What we find is that maple syrup, a natural sweetener, mitigates some of the negative effects of refined sugar consumption,” he said in his study published in the American Journal of Physiologu-Endocrinology and Metabolism.

This hypothesis is currently being tested in humans. Results should be published by the end of the year.

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#sugar #Maple #syrup #reduces #metabolic #diseases

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