Maple Syrup: Good for Your Mouth, Fun for Your Health

Got a sweet tooth? Yes, sugar can give you an energy boost, but that’s only temporary. Actually, excessive intake of sugar can harm your health. Refined with sugar contributes to lower B-vitamin amounts, cholesterol accumulation, and tooth damage. The body needs nutrients and fiber for better functioning, and sugar doesn’t have any of them. It is rich in calories, which are stored as fats when they’re not used by the body.

There’s a healthier alternative that’s just as sweet as sugar: maple syrup. Include maple syrup in your diet, and you get the best of both worlds—sweet flavor plus healthy body. You can find many uses for maple syrup in your daily life including maple sugar candy and maple cookies ideas. An amber liquid with viscous consistency made from maple tree sap, maple syrup provides a lot of health benefits. Although it’s rich in sugar, maple syrup is a healthier sweetener than sugar. It has more minerals and fewer calories than sugar and honey. A quarter cup of maple syrup has more potassium than a banana and more calcium than milk. Maple syrup is a rich source of phosphorous, iron, and B vitamins, which are very essential to your health. In addition to that, substituting sugar in favor of maple syrup lessens your chance of developing illnesses.

Because it contains manganese, maple syrup can help improve your energy production and antioxidant defenses. Aside from being an antioxidant, manganese also facilitates healing and reduces inflammations. Just one ounce of maple syrup a day can provide 22 percent of the recommended amount of manganese in the body. The immune system also benefits from the manganese found in maple syrup. Further enhancing the body’s response against infections is the zinc content of maple syrup. And because maple syrup contains zinc, it can also keep your heart healthy. An essential trace mineral, zinc can minimize the likelihood of heart problems such as stroke, heart attack, and atherosclerosis or the buildup of cholesterol in the arteries. When it comes to reproductive health, men benefit a lot from maple syrup since its zinc content reduces the risk of prostate cancer. On the other hand, manganese in maple syrup contributes to sex hormone production in men.

Maple syrup is not dangerous to health compared to processed white sugar. In fact, it has a very low sodium content (2 mg. per 50 mL. serving). Low sodium content means maple syrup won’t pose a threat to people with high blood pressure, kidney ailment, or diabetes. Also, maple syrup doesn’t contain substances that interfere with the various functions of the body such as purines, oxalates, and goitrogens. And it doesn’t trigger any allergic reaction.

Sweet taste and good health can go hand in hand when you use maple syrup as a substitute to unhealthy sugar. Thus, it pays to lessen your intake of sugar and make sure that you buy your own supply of maple syrup on your next visit at the local supermarket. Making sure that you have maple syrup equipment can mean the difference between an unhealthy and a healthy you.