Comparative analysis of maple syrup to other natural sweeteners and evaluation of their metabolic responses in healthy rats

Received 18 February 2014Received in revised form 30September 2014Accepted 2 October 2014Available onlineABSTRACTMaple syrup is a natural source of carbohydrates but its metabolic impact remains poorlystudied.We undertook to systematically compare the chemical composition of maple syrupwith that of other natural sweeteners, and assess their metabolic responses in healthy rats.As compared to other sweeteners, maple syrup is particularly rich in polyphenolic lignansand in the phytohormone abscisic acid and its derivatives. Metabolic studies in rats showedthat maple syrup produced significantly lower peak and global responses of glucose, insulin,amylin and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) as compared to brown rice syrup, corn syrupand pure dextrose.The metabolic effects of agave syrup and molasses were similar to thatof maple syrup, while honey caused higher peak responses for insulin, amylin and GIP. Boththe composition of maple syrup and the metabolic responses to its ingestion in rats indi-cate that it represents a healthy natural alternative to refined sugar.© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.