Maple Syrup vs Honey: Which is healthier

Maple syrup and honey are two healthier alternatives to sugar. They are natural sweeteners for your recipes and also have health benefits! If you want to know which option is better, keep reading this article because it will compare and highlight the specific nutritional composition for both of them as well as their effect on the human body. 

Nutrition

We already decided that both pure maple syrup and honey are better options for sugar, now let’s see the nutritional advantages of using one of those ingredients.

Maple syrup is a wonderful ingredient rich in vitamins and minerals.

1 tablespoon of maple syrup contains about:

- 52 calories

- >1 g fat

- 2.4 mg sodium

- 13.4 g carbohydrates

- 0 g fiber

- 12.1 sugars

- >1g protein

- 20.4 mg calcium

- 0.582 mg manganese

- 0.294 mg zinc

- 0.254 mg riboflavin

Also, maple syrup contains vitamins like B1, B2, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.

1 tablespoon of honey contains about:

- 64 calories;

- 0 g fat;

- 1 mg sodium;

- 17.3 g carbohydrates;

- >1 g fiber;

- 17.2 g sugars;

- >1g protein;

- 1.26 mg calcium;

- 0.17 mg manganese;

- 0.46 mg zinc.

- 0.08 mg riboflavin

Honey contains vitamins like C, B3, B5, B6 higher levels of iron and phosphorus.

Health Impact

It is important to consider the benefits that maple syrup and honey have on our bodies. And how can we improve our health or protect it by using the right ingredient?

An important element that I want to highlight is that both ingredients have a positive effect on cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other conditions. This happens because pure maple syrup and honey are rich in antioxidants.

It is good to know that darker maple syrup was found to have stronger antioxidants abilities than honey.

It is not a secret that pure maple syrup is the best ingredient if you want to start your day with a boost of energy! It is recommended to be used before training as it contains a high number of carbohydrates that convert into glucose. This will help you to gain the necessary energy to finish your workout.  Also, specialists recommend taking maple syrup after training because it helps people recover faster. Maple syrup contains riboflavin which helps create usable energy from the food we eat and may play a role in the prevention of cancer and migraines.

Maple syrup is a better choice than honey for people who have diabetes or blood sugar problems, for example. This happens because maple syrup has a lower glycemic index than honey.

If you have certain diseases like inflammatory bowel, maple syrup can be helpful. Studies show that maple syrup contains quebecol which is a molecule that reduces anti-inflammatory disease. Honey can not be the perfect decision for this issue because of the type of sugars it contains.

In conclusion, both ingredients are wonderful and better alternatives to sugar. We highly recommend using them in order to improve your health and start a healthy diet. But beware, they should not be consumed in excess! 

If you decide that you want to start using pure maple syrup in your recipes and daily diet, we have an entire collection of maple products. We have been producing maple syrup since 1876. With a long history in the manufacture of maple syrup, we are proud to bring to our store the highest quality syrups, produced right in our factory in Canada.