Is maple syrup better for you than sugar

Not familiar with how Brown Sugar is really made? Interested in Brown Sugar vs. Real Maple compare in health benefits, calorie content, and more? Continue reading to learn more. 

Flavor Profile 

Maple syrup has caramel notes along with the woodsy maple flavor that you might expect from a maple syrup product. Maple syrup can have a complex flavor with notes of vanilla, cinnamon and even hazelnut.

Brown Sugar, made from sugar cane, has the caramel notes but not the maple notes. It gets its flavor from its molasses content that is reintroduced to the cane sugar after processing, which is what gives it its brown color. In addition to the caramel-heavy molasses flavor notes, it can have a mildly metallic aftertaste.

Is maple syrup better for you than sugar

Health Benefits

Glycemic Index 

The glycemic index defines foods by how quickly it causes your blood sugar to rise. Sugars naturally rank higher on the glycemic index, however, maple syrup is clearly the better option as it has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar. 

Real Maple Syrup has a glycemic index of 54. Maple syrup is defined as having a "medium" index.

Brown Sugar has a glycemic index of 64 and is defined as having a "medium" index.

Minerals & Antioxidants 

Real Maple Syrup is full of antioxidants that are anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-bacterial. An article published by Livestrong.com that describes Real Maple nutrition even explains that "Researchers have also recently discovered that maple syrup is a source of phenolics, a class of antioxidants that are found in berries."   

Real Maple Syrup has significantly more calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese than Brown Sugar. These minerals do great work for your body including things like cell formation, maintaining healthy red blood cells, and immune support. 

The chart below shows syrup winning in a head to head on mineral activity. 

Is maple syrup better for you than sugar

Vitamins

Brown Sugar does contain trace amounts of vitamins B3, B6, and B9. 

Maple Syrup also contains Vitamin B5. However, Maple Syrup contains four times more riboflavin, also known as Vitamin B2, which is also important for energy production. Maple Syrup also contains thiamin or Vitamin B1. Maple Syrup also has a number of vitamins including niacin, B5, B2, folic acid, B6, biotin and vitamin A which insist on things like energy metabolism and vision.

Additional Nutritional Facts

In a head to head on calorie content, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar contains 17 calories while 1 teaspoon of maple syrup contains 52 calories.

Processing/Refinement

Real Maple Syrup is a straight-from-nature product that has a rather simple process flow. The sap is taken from a tapped maple tree and then boiled into a concentrated syrup. That's it!

Brown Sugar is produced by adding sugar cane molasses back into completely refined white sugar. This creates the soft and moist brown sugar that you are familiar with. Dark brown sugar contains about 6.5% molasses while light brown sugar contains around 3.5% molasses. 

Is maple syrup better for you than sugar
(Image credit: Christine Gallary)

Replacement

When replacing Brown Sugar with Real Maple Syrup the replacement is a simple 1:1 ratio.

Winner: Real Maple Syrup

While the flavor profile is a bit similar and Brown Sugar's calorie content is lower, Maple Syrup's health benefits and straight-from-nature refinement process make Maple the obvious winner in this head to head!

Disclaimer: We are not encouraging you, the consumer, to put more sugar in your diet. Instead, we are suggesting that when you do choose sugar, choose real maple, the best alternative.

If interested, read more here:

https://www.spiceography.com/maple-sugar-vs-brown-sugar/

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/health/nutrition/12real.html

https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Glycemic-Index-Where-Do-Sweeteners-Fall-3031565

https://www.livestrong.com/article/557225-what-are-the-benefits-of-brown-sugar-vs-white-sugar/

https://www.thekitchn.com/where-does-the-brown-in-brown-sugar-come-from-ingredient-intelligence-215952

Is maple syrup better for you than sugar

When it comes to choosing the right sweetener, the question of maple syrup versus sugar is one that often comes up.

Image Credit: AnjelaGr/iStock/GettyImages

Before you reach for something sweet, you may want to weigh the pros and cons of maple syrup versus sugar. While they both contribute to your overall calories and sugar totals for the day, there are some significant differences in how they are processed that you should consider.

Maple Syrup Versus Sugar

When it comes to choosing the right sweetener, the question of maple syrup versus sugar is one that often comes up. If you consider the refining process of maple syrup, which involves tapping maple trees for sap and then boiling the sap into syrup, maple syrup is the better choice since it is relatively unprocessed.

White or refined sugar, on the other hand, requires a large amount of processing from either sugar cane or sugar beets, according to the Sugar Association. As a result, it lacks any real nutritional value. Which means, there are no vitamins or minerals left in the final product. And while maple syrup may not be a winner in the vitamin category, it does contain a variety of essential and trace minerals.

While some studies suggest that the antioxidants in maple syrup make it healthier than regular sugar, it's still sugar with no fiber attached, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Therefore, if you consume too much, you can still experience swings in your blood sugar and insulin. That said, the maple syrup sugar content is still less than white sugar, which makes it a better choice when counting your total sugar consumption for the day.

Maple Syrup and Sugar Facts

Weighing the pros and cons of maple syrup versus sugar requires accurate nutritional information. According to the USDA, 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup has approximately 52 calories and 13.4 grams of carbohydrate, with 12.1 grams coming from sugar.

The amount of protein is minimal with only 0.008 grams, and the fat content is 0.012 grams. Maple syrup also contains several essential and trace minerals in various amounts including, 20.4 milligrams of calcium, 4.2 milligrams of magnesium, 42.4 milligrams of potassium and 2.4 milligrams of sodium.

According to the USDA, 1 tablespoon of white sugar has approximately 48.9 calories, 12.6 grams of carbohydrate, with 12.57 grams coming from sugar and 0 grams of both fat and protein. There is no measurable amount of vitamins or minerals, with the majority containing 0 grams.

Based on the nutritional information and how each item is processed, going with maple syrup seems to be the healthier option, for a variety of reasons. The maple syrup calories are less than white sugar, which makes it a better choice when counting calories.

Plus, the maple syrup sugar content is less than white sugar, which helps keep your daily sugar totals down. And finally, the essential and trace minerals, while not significant, are still higher in maple syrup than they are in white sugar.

How Much Sugar Per Day?

Whether you like to drizzle maple syrup on your pancakes or add a little sugar to your coffee, keeping an eye on the amount of sugar you consume in a day is important. Fortunately, the American Heart Association has set an upper limit as a guide to help you monitor your sugar intake.

For women, they recommend a maximum of 100 calories or 6 teaspoons of sugar per day. Men, because they are generally taller and weigh more, should not exceed 150 calories or 9 teaspoons per day.

While 6 to 9 teaspoons of sugar may not seem like much, it can add up quickly. For example, one can of cola contain as much as 10 1/4 teaspoons. And if 1 teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories, that means a daily soda habit will net you about 160 calories. With that in mind, deciding between maple syrup versus sugar, the clear choice is maple syrup.

Until recently, product nutrition labels did not have to show the percentage of calories from added sugars, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It only identified the general label of sugar, which included all forms of sugar. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new regulations requiring all packaged food and beverage containers produced by manufacturers to carry the new label.

Is maple syrup better than white sugar for diabetics?

They have determined that eating maple syrup causes a lower rise in blood glucose (sugar) levels than white sugar, corn syrup or brown-rice syrup, and they have given maple syrup a low glycemic index[a2] , similar to honey, molasses and agave syrup.

Why is maple syrup a better sweetener?

It has a lower glycemic index than sugar, so it won't spike your blood sugar levels as quickly. Maple syrup is also known for possessing antioxidants, which are substances that help our cells fight off oxidative stress and protect against disease.

Is honey or maple syrup healthier?

One nutritional advantage that honey has over maple syrup is that honey has no fat. That said, maple syrup's fat is very minimal, just 0.1 gram of fat per tablespoon. Another advantage of honey over maple syrup is that honey offers more vitamins — B-6 and C — while maple syrup lacks this vitamin profile.

What is healthier maple syrup or brown sugar?

Real Maple Syrup has significantly more calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese than Brown Sugar. These minerals do great work for your body including things like cell formation, maintaining healthy red blood cells, and immune support.