Is All Natural Maple Syryup Really Healthier Than The Artificial Syrup? I Compared Nutrition Labels U Decide.
I always use the 100% Pure Maple Syrup cuz I’ve heard it’s alot healthier than the other “stuff” (meaning the syrup that lists Corn Syrup and High Frusctose Corn Syrup as their first ingredients), but know I’m not so sure after I compared the nutrition facts from the labels on the back. Here’s what I found:
1/4 cup serving of the 100% Pure All Natural Maple Syrup has 210 calories and so does the artificial stuff
Total Fat on both is 0 g
Trans Fat on both is 0 g
Total Carbs 53 g on both
Now get this!! Sugars is 50 g on the All Natural Pure Maple Syrup and only 27 g on the Artificial (weird that the 100% Pure stuff has more)
I was shocked when I read this:
The All Natural Pure Maple Syrup has 5 mg Sodium and the Artificial Syrup has 170 mg Sodium per serving!!! Whoa!!!
I guess that’s what makes the All Natural Pure Maple Syrup a better choice. But what I don’t understand is, why does the 100% Pure All Natural Maple Syrup have more sugars per serving than the Artificial stuff?
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July 13 2009 04:46 am | Natural Nutrition Benefit
? on 13 Jul 2009 at 11:30 am #
Your point illustrates exactly why those nutritional labels aren’t the full story. The sugars in the natural maple syrup aren’t the same as the sugars in the artificial.
In general, you should always chose foods that have the fewest ingredients and have been minimally processed.
In case you didn’t know, High Fructose Corn Syrup is chemically derived from GMO corn. You should avoid it like the plague.
Arianna on 13 Jul 2009 at 3:46 pm #
Well, “sugars” is a very broad term. Basically, maple syrup is made by tapping the sap of a tree and boiling it down to a thick syrup. By boiling down the sap, they are eliminating the water and reducing it to just the sugars present in the tree and enough water to keep it liquid. It’s like if you took apple juice and boiled it down – you’d be left with very high fruit-sugar syrup, though it would probably taste kind of nasty.
I imagine the artificial stuff has less sugar because it’s just sweetener added to water, and more sodium because most processed foods have a tonne of sodium, whereas some boiled sap from a tree would necessarily only have trace amounts.
Unless you’re diabetic or worried about blood sugar levels, I wouldn’t let the amount of sugar in natural maple syrup put you off of it in favour of the artificial stuff. I’m pretty sure the unprocessed, naturally occurring sugars in the maple syrup are healthier and more easily metabolized.
marie on 13 Jul 2009 at 8:40 pm #
The natural syrup gos a lot further than that gloppy stuff. You have to pour and pour the other stuff. Real syrup is thinner and has more flavor. I think the reason it has more sugar, would be lack of additives.
The Unknown Chef on 13 Jul 2009 at 9:17 pm #
Being a former chef and having did some food science courses, the main difference is that the type of sugars, glucose based as aposed to the sucrose based, like with honey.
Like honey, real true Maple Syrup is a simple sugar and therefore does not react the same way as a compound based sugar like cane, beet and corn based sugar products, for those counting calories or diabetic, which I am one, the simple sugar do not raise the insulin level the same why as the others.
Most artifical maple syrups have no real syrup or a trace amount, it is mostly flavours.