Maple Syrup versus Table Sugar
Do you LOVE maple syrup? Have you switched to using it in place of white table sugar? Do you ever wonder though if it really is a healthy alternative to refined white table sugar?
Sure it is! It's high in magnesium, potassium, calcium and even zinc! That alone makes it a better choice than using white table sugar.
Since I wrote this post: Top 3 Refined Sugar Free Sweeteners, I've been asked numerous times by quite a few of you as to why maple syrup is not listed.
I will explain, but want to restate the fact that I am not a nutritionist. All the information I have learned over the years of being sugar free I have learned through reading and my own personal experience. I am confident in what works for me, it may not be right for you so seek advice of a nutritionist or doctor before making any changes to your diet.
Here's what I've learned about sugar. There are two distinct types of sugar.
- Fructose which is fruit sugar.
- Sucrose which is refined sugar.
Fructose is broken down slowly in your body. Sucrose is quickly broken down which increases glucose in our body. When our bodies sense an increase of glucose in our blood it immediately directs the pancreas to push insulin into the blood stream. So basically high concentrations of sucrose sugar cause blood sugar to be affected greatly.
I'm sure my readers who have children with diabetes or are diabetic themselves could explain even better than I, but this is the simplest way I can explain why I won't use it. I would encourage you to read this heartfelt note to Kelly The Kitchen Kop in response to her recommending maple syrup for those with diabetes. It explains it better than I for sure.
Honey is made up of 38.2% of fructose, 31% glucose and only 1.3 % sucrose. Maple Syrup is basically 99.9 % sucrose. White table sugar, turbinado and brown sugar are also 99.9 % sucrose.
So although I am NOT diabetic, my blood sugar is greatly affected when ingesting high amounts of sucrose. When my blood sugar is effected I am irritable, angry, HUNGRY, and craving everything in sight. I don't really like that feeling all that much and choose to avoid it at all costs. I believe some people have no problem ingesting maple syrup or anything else made of sucrose, but for me it just doesn't work.
Do you use maple syrup? How does it affect you?
Sources:
- Pure Maple Syrup Nutrition
- Nutrition of Maple Syrup vs. Honey
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup
- The Truth about "Natural" Sweeteners
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Rachel Colorado
I have a different take on this, and I’m hoping people will reply and tell me if I’m wrong. Fructose has to be processed in the liver to turn it into glucose which will then be usable for energy. But, this process is hard on there Liver and takes time. I believe (until someone explains it better to me), that this is why fructose is low on the glycemic index… Because of the time it takes to go through the liver, we don’t see it on the blood quickly. HOWEVER, I think it is worse overall, because the liver has to do this conversion. Moreover, this is why I would not live by the glycemic index at all! This doesn’t make me avoid fruit, but look at the entirety of the diet, holistically.
Izzie
I agree with you! There's info out there that says fructose is linked to NAFL disease - non alcoholic fatty liver disease. My friends mum had this and it was part of the reason she passed away, she / doctors didn't catch it.
Gaie Feuerstein Dc
This is the gold standard for info on fructose.
https://robertlustig.com/sugar-the-bitter-truth/
Laura
I see that several people clarified that sucrose is 50/50 glucose and fructose. I wanted to make one more clarification when talking about the negatives of fructose. When fructose is consumed as whole fruit your body limits the amount of fructose absorbed to a usable amount. There are many health benefits to eating fruit. When fructose is eaten with glucose like in sucrose (table sugar) you body absorbs higher amounts of fructose. Which as others mentioned when you have too much fructose it leads to increased fat and LDL (bad cholesterol). All this is to say avoid or eliminate added sugars but continue to eat fruit on its own (stand alone snack). Also just to clarify glucose is needed to provide energy to all of your cells. Eating carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are an important part of fueling your body. Take home message avoid or eliminate added sugar and highly processed foods and focus on whole foods:)
Kathy
Fructose is extremely dangerous for the liver. Please watch YouTube video by pediatric endocrinologist, author of the book metabolical, video is fructose, 2.0.
Gillian Kennedy
Hello,
Thanks for your blog.
As a Nutritionist, I just wanted to point out that you are mentioning there are 2 distinct types of sugar being sucrose & fructose.
This isn't entirely true.
Sucrose is actually a disaccharide molecule made up of 50% glucose & 50% fructose.
The 3 most common basic types of sugar (monosaccharides) are: glucose, fructose & galacatose.
The combinations of these make of the dissacharide molecules we know more commonly as sucrose, lactose & maltose.
Pure Maple syrup has also been tested in North America and shown to contain between 51.7 to 75.6% sucrose, 0.00 to 9.59% extra glucose and 0.00 to 3.95% extra fructose.
It's mildy better than honey with it's higher glucose content but still not an advisable sweetener to eat very often as super high in both glucose & fructose.
This is a Nutritionists point of view. Being Canadian I love maple syrup but only have it very occasionally as a special treat as 2 tbsp of maple syrup can be the maximum daily extra sugar allowance for a woman.
Just to clarify to help you on your no-sugar journey as well as your followers!
Izzie
Thank you! I was searching the falseinformation-net for why all these articles are saying maple syrup has little fructose when it is high in sucrose! Which is half fructose half glucose! DANGEROUS! The internet can be a propaganda highway meant to market and sell things by lying
Adri
People should refer more to actual studies conducted like the ncbi gov when they talk because it does spread a lot of misinformation in these comments.
While there are sugars intolerance, which seems to be partly my case too and will get tested soon, the angriness is due to a high level of Zinc in your blood since Maple Syrup contains a good amount of zinc.
Depression, for instance, has been linked to high copper level in the blood and low level of Zinc since these two battles each other, and Zinc always wins, Copper will get you more creative but anxious, also it can lead to depression over time, whereas Zinc will get you more alive, a bit restless but this one won't give you such negative feelings that can lead to harmful self behavior.
On the other side, starch is basically pure sugar, I think this is the worst thing you can put in your mouth compared to refined sugars.
Eating a bit of refined sugars coupled with a yogurt, for example, will help to get asleep and sleep better because the sugars will trigger insulin which in turn brings Serotonin that gets converted into Melatonin, that last being the sleeping hormone.
I'm not an expert, but I've been going through some great rollercoasters these past few years, especially with starch which I deem to be a "fake" sugar that just isn't satisfying, causing endless cravings, and in my case, brain fog, and guess what, refined sugars do NOT do that if I consume it reasonably with fats, and fruits do have high levels of coppers (or starch too) in them, especially if not organic, which is simply not good if you refer to what I say above.
I will also partly vote for paleo diet, but don't forget a bit of sugar that's not starch, otherwise sleeping gets difficult.
mr
I can't believe this post is still up. It is factually incorrect, please either edit it or take it down completely. As stated above in comments and some linked videos, maple syrup, honey, etc are all added sweeteners and will contribute to insulin response issues.
Brenda
And my post explains why I don't use it.
Mary
Honey is made up of 38.2% of fructose, 31% glucose and only 1.3 % sucrose. Maple Syrup is basically 99.9 % sucrose. White table sugar, turbinado and brown sugar are also 99.9 % sucrose.
Do you happen to know your source for this?
Brenda
sources are cited at the bottom of the page
Ruthanne
Your post was extremely helpful, because I recently had a blood test that showed me I lack enzymes to properly digest fructose. And after that I noticed when I eat fruits high in fructose, I struggle with depress the next day. (The nutritionist explained how that works, but I forget, sorry!).
I try to avoid sugars, but knowing that once in a while when I want something sweet, to reach for maple syrup instead of honey.
Thanks again!
Douglas Williams
You mean affected, with an "a"
Mila Bassett
Michael absolutely right. This post is misleading. Which means some people may be using your information and harming their health.
Tracey
Hi,
Interesting topic. Honey is awesome, but maple syrup is my preferred choice over honey for a number of reasons.
I had always used honey and still do once in while, but not for any recipes I eat regularly. Although honey is so beneficial in many respects (love it), maple syrup is now my preferred option. It's about the ratio of fructose to glucose - honey has more fructose than glucose and maple syrup doesn't. Anyone who has fructose malabsorption (like myself) will usually find maple syrup is the better choice for this reason (no more pains and cramping -yay!). But it still needs to be limited - 1 tablespoon is my limit and it could be different for each individual.
I generally avoid having any product regularly where the quantity of fructose is higher (even slightly higher) than the glucose (e.g honey) due to fructose malabsorption. Where the quantities of fructose and glucose are exactly equal or fructose is less, that is okay and I can have it without nasty consequences - maple syrup is a winner from this respect.
Fortunately I have been thrilled to find maple syrup actually tastes more amazing in smoothies than honey anyway. I don't feel hungry after it, but that's just me.
The bottom line is that the healthiest sweetener (maple syrup or honey) will depend on how it affects the individual and this will be different from person to person. I say don't sweat too much over the science, and just go with what works for you personally.
Morgen
I'm having a hard time following your math. Assuming Sucrose is a 50/50 split between Fructose and Glucose: (I used your numbers for honey because they are quite close to the accepted numbers but I placed in new numbers for your maple syrup. A Grade, the most common type used, Maple syrup is required to me roughly 69% sugars by law, which is generally where it lands. 99% is probably not the best numbers choice for that comparison)
Honey: F 38.2, G 31.0, S 1.3 becomes F 39.50, G 32.3.
Maple Syrup: F 0.0, G 0.0, S 69.0 becomes F 34.50, G 34.50.
Between the two forms the overall sugars are very close, within 1% with maple being slightly better but the real difference is only if you believe limiting fructose itself is just as important as limiting all sugars. There is a 5% spread between the fructose levels of the two sweeteners with maple being lower.
😀
y
WOW this article just made my day!!... I was sugar free for about 2 years and then I started including maple syrup in my coffee, tea ,healthy treats and more, and I was sure that it is better than sugar so I can eat it in big portions, I eat about 3 teaspoons to 6 teaspoons maple syrup a day , and this is not including all of the other types of sugar that I eat everyday (like fruit etc)... so lately I've noticed that I'm more angry and especially hungry, very hungry which is something that I've never had before ... and I was wondering for a long time what is that thing that causing all of these things and now I think i know the answer, I'm probably going to stop using maple syrup or start using it in small portions and going back to the sugarfree lifestyle. thank you very very much 🙂
Charles
I am diabetic type 2. I usually use honey as a sweetener, But I also use maple syrup about 5 times a year. When I make baked beans and I have pancakes ,french toast ,or waffles. I also make maple syrup about 8- 10 gallons a year. I even make maple hard candy and carry it in case my sugar gets low. If you are careful and use it moderately there is no problem and it is a lot tastier then that imitation stuff they sell.
Kathie
If a recipe calls for Maple syrup what do you replace it with to make it sugar free?
I am just starting out and have no idea
Thanks so much
Erin
I was recently diagnosed with metabolic syndrome which means I'm insulin resistant. I have a huge sweet tooth so I've been researching sugar substitutes to use when baking. There's been some conflicting info on the net about maple syrup, but I went to the Diabetes Association website and it said that baking with maple syrup actually has a lower glycemic index than white sugar. As long as your pair the maple syrup with other high fiber foods or decrease other carbohydrates like baking with coconut flour instead of wheat flour. I think the key is moderation though.
Jo
hi
I agree with Michael. I am cutting sugar out of my diet and stick to stevia or rice malt syrups for sweetness. These two options are completely fructose free but as with any sweetener should be kept to a minimum.
Michael
I'm sorry, but this entry is not correct. It is generally accepted that fructose is the problem monosaccharide as it is broken down in the liver and, when consumed in large doses such as in added sugars or sweet drinks, can lead to metabolic syndrome, which is a precursor to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and possibly cancer. Glucose, although not ideal in large quantities either, has not been linked in the same way to these diseases. In fact, populations that consume large quantities of glucose but very little fructose, such as mid-century Japan and its heavy rice consumption, have very low levels of these diseases.
Sucrose is a disaccharide that is broke down into its constituent monosaccharides in the body: fructose and glucose in equal parts. So, when you consume sucrose, you are consuming a 50/50 ratio of glucose and fructose.
Stick to whole fruits and vegetables and limit your intake of any added sweeteners (including honey or maple syrup) and you will be fine.
Jo
This is really good source for your fructose/sucrose discussion: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123175707.htm It describes a study that drilled down into the effect of these sugars.
Betty
Hi,
I have really enjoyed reading your blog since I made the decision to try (with mixed success) to reduce the amount of refined sugar I eat.
I just have a question about fructose. I've been reading a lot lately about how fructose is actually a really bad sugar because our bodies aren't evolved to handle it in large quantities and so converts most of it straight to fat :/ I believe fruit is a reasonable exception though as the benefits of the vitamins and fibre are too important to avoid. Have you heard anything about fructose as a bad sugar?
Betty
x
Brenda
Hi Betty,
I haven't but I will do some research to get more info and then make a decision about whether to avoid that as well. Thanks.
Betty
I watched his YouTube video of a lecture by a doctor of endocrinology really interesting, if not a little scary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
x
Eddarw Kerr
Betty,
Thanks for posting this very informative video. I knew that fructose was bad for you but I didn't know how bad. As an old man with cirrhosis (due to a Hep C infection from years ago) this information is of particular interest
Thanks again
Gina
I love maple syrup but confine my use of it as an ingredient in main dish recipes that contain protein, like chicken or pork. I don't use it with carb-rich foods like pancakes and such, because it gives me the same effect that you describe. For me, the bad feeling is due to an overload of carbs in general, not just from the maple syrup.
Brenda
I agree too many carbs also cause a problem for me. Thanks for sharing!
a chick from Provence
hello. Dont mean to start a scientific debate as i am no mo re qualifued than you but more recent studies have demonstrated that Fructose is actually worst than anything else. I go by Iquitsugar.com
I have lost 26 kilos that is 4 stones or 55 pounds over a year going sugarfree (and low carb but being French i love baguette and bread with cheese). I can't begin to tell you all the changes in my body, mood, energy levels, skin, self confidence and sex life....
the drawbacks are that I doing sleep as well (because never tired enough) and I tend to have thinner hair (they say rapid weight loss will trigger that) but honestly so worth it!!!!!
CW
Hi! Loving your blog - thanks so much!
Just a query - I was under the impression that sucrose is simply half glucose & half fructose anyway? So it's the glucose raising blood sugars?
Brenda
I believe yes from what I've read, the glucose is immediately absorbed in the body which causes the quick rise in the blood stream.
rhiannon edge
Monosaccharides- (simple carbs)
- made up of a single sugar unit (glucose, galactose, fructose)
glucose- most abundant, blood circulated
galactose- makes up 1/2 milk sugar
fructose- fruit sugar, 1/2 sugar in honey, corn syrup
Disaccharides- (simple carbs)
- made up of two sugar units (maltose, sucrose, lactose)
maltose- glucose + glucose- formed when starch is digested and broken down by salivary amylase
sucrose- glucose + fructose (aka table sugar)
lactose- glucose + glactose (aka milk sugar)- enzyme lactase is needed to break down lactose
"-ose" - dealing with sugar
"-ase"- enzyme needed to break down sugar
- all disacharides have glucose in common
then there are the Polysaccharides (complex carbs)
- glycogen- made of highly branch chains of glucose and allows for quick breakdown to glucose
- starches- either straight or branched chains of glucose (breads, legumes, starchy vegetables)
recommended intake for simple sugars- no more than 1 teaspoon a day
recommended intake for carbs- 45-65% daily calorie intake (minimum intake for ages 1 and up: 130 grams daily)
so sugars are only not found in fats and oils and cheese. cheese does not have lactose.
😀
i personally only use maple syrup (real maple syrup) to sweeten my coffee
John Adam
I'm glad you show that sucrose is not a distinct sugar in itself, as this website seems to say.. Regular table sugar or sucrose is 50% fructose, so if maple syrup is about 99% sucrose, then it is about 50% fructose. See Sugar, the bitter truth, on youtube. Fructose in food and drinks is processed into fat. Hence the obesity epidemic.
Blandine
Hello !
First, let me tell you that I really LOVE your blog, who help me eating in a healthier way.
Since I'm french, I am maybe misundersting what you are writing, but firt you tell that maple syrup IS a healthy alternative to sugar, but then you say that it is 99.9 % sucrose, the "bad" sugars. I don't really understand...
Thank you for you help 🙂
Brenda
HI Blandine, It is healthier than using white table sugar because it is less refined and it contains minerals and vitamins that are not in white table sugar. For that reason it is a good choice. But for me because it is purely sucrose, it does not agree with me and causes me to crave more sugary things. Hope that helps.
Blandine
Ok. Thank you very much for this quick answer.
Since few years, I only use brown sugar because I thinks that it's more "natural". But now that I'm trying to find alternatives to sugar, even those which are not white, I'm facing difficulties : no pure stevia (some products like yogourts or sodas are using stevia instead of chimical sweetener, but there is no stevia by itself), very few agave syrup (and only at very high prices that, as a 19 years old student, I can't afford)...
So maybe I'll try maple syrup sometimes.
Once again, thank you (and sorry for my english ^^) !
Jime
Hi Blandine, are you located in France? I think Nu naturals, which carries the best pure stevia I have tried, ships to international locations and they sell through their website. Or maybe try Amazon or iherb?
Melinda
I don't like maple syrup. My husband however, loves it. He has a business associate that sends it to us a few times a year from Vermont. He enjoys it on his pancakes and faux french toast. The only use I have for it is when I make homemade low fat granola. My kids love that sprinkled on top of their yogurt/fruit concoction in the mornings.
Nelson
Please watch the documentary called "THAT SUGAR FILM"
The truths about sugar and low fat foods.
I have gomne about 90% Paleo and feel amazing I went from a size 42 waist to a 36.
Stephanie
I don't eat maple syrup, but recently I've been reading about Dr Ray Peat (and his philosophies) who interestingly suggests sucrose or sugar over starch to reduce stress in the body etc. I also do get those sugar swings when I eat too much of refined sugar, but I noticed that my bloating is slightly less than when I eat primarily starches. Anyways, thanks for the info!!
Brenda
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew
Just a quick fact check. 100% Maple syrup is, by definition, maple sap that has been boiled to 66% sucrose (in Canada).
Maple syrup is not 99% sugar.
Pancake syrup, or other synthetic maple flavoured syrups may have 99% sugar, but they are not pure maple syrup.
I don’t think this changes the message of your post, but it would improve its accuracy.