Maple Sugar:
Health and Cancer Prevention
Just From Using Healthy Snacks

Maple sugar and maple syrup is now being shown as a possible alternative for better health and cancer prevention. Many people are trying to find alternative ways of helping themselves or loved ones to prevent or help alleviate disease. Sometimes this is because of frustration, ineffective treatments currently being used, adverse reactions to a treatment or even to alleviate the over-load of side effects of a current medication program.

Whatever the reason, the possibility exists, just by enjoying some healthy snacks made of pure maple sugar, a team of researchers from the US and Canadian provinces has found the use of maple sugar products has shown promising results in the treatments of several types of cancer and diabetes.

Although this is still in the research stage, obtaining options, studying and talking this information over with your own doctor, the chances already exist this form of maple sugar treatment may be beneficial for you.

Date: 04/11/10
Information Source: Sandy Harris, a freelance writer with a personal interest in the prevention and possible cure of Diabetes

The Secret to Prevent Cancer and Diabetes
with Maple Syrup

Are you looking for a natural solution to reduce the risk of diabetes and slow down the growth of cancer cells? Your search is probably over because recent studies have shown that maple syrup holds the key to these problems. US researchers have found that maple syrup has the ability to substantially decrease the risk of diabetes.

The syrup also showed great potential in slowing down the growth of cancerous cells. Maple syrup has thirteen active antioxidant substances. These antioxidants were previously unknown but have been discovered only recently. Because of these antioxidants, researchers have firmed up that maple sugar syrup has a great potential in fighting cancer growth, diabetes, and infections.

An Effective Solution For Diabetes Sufferers

Considerable amounts of the phytohormone, abscisic acid, are found in maple syrup. This acid is a powerful defense against diabetes and metabolic syndrome, because it encourages the release of insulin through pancreatic cells and enhances fat cells’ sensitivity to insulin.

Seeram revealed the results of his tests on Canadian maple syrup during the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.

Maple Syrup as the Best Anti-Cancer Food

A study punished in the Journal of Medicinal Food showed that maple syrup can significantly inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. This study was conducted by Quebec scholars. It seeks to prove the impact of maple syrup against cancer cells.

Based on the Quebec research, the growth of cancer cells can be inhibited by maple syrup. Specifically, the syrup is very effective against brain, prostate, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, maple syrup has minimal impact against breast cancer growth.

A Delicious Option in Fighting Cancer and Diabetes

The following is from a study titled: Antioxidant Activity, Inhibition of Nitric Oxide Overproduction, and In Vitro Antiproliferative Effect of Maple Sap and Syrup from Acer saccharum, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, and written by Jean Legault, Karl Girard-Lalancette, Carole Grenon, Catherine Dussault and André Pichette:

Maple sap and syrup from 30 producers in three Quebec, Canada, regions were evaluated concerning the time of harvest and abstract antioxidant activity, inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) overproduction and the anti-proliferative effect of ethyl acetate extracts.

The harvest time does not have an analytically notable incidence on antioxidant activity of either maple sap or syrup extracts. Their Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values are 12 +/- 6 and 15 +/- 5 mumol of Trolox equivalents (TE)/mg, respectively.

A cell-based assay also confirmed the antioxidant activity. The ORAC assay was also used to establish the antioxidant activity of pure maple syrup. The results show the pure maple syrup ORAC value of 8 +/- 2 mumol of TE/mL to be lower than the blueberry juice value of 24 +/- 1 mumol of TE/mL but similar to the strawberry juice value of 10.7 +/- 0.4 mumol of TE/mL and the orange juice value of 10.8 +/- 0.5 mumol of TE/mL. Lipopolysaccharide-induced NO overproduction in RAW264.7 murine macrophages was considerably inhibited by maple sap and syrup extracts. It is believed that transforming maple sap into syrup enhances NO inhibition action, because the syrup extract was considerably more active than the sap extract.

The maple sugar extracts induced the highest NO inhibition at the season’s end, and the darker syrup was more active than the clear syrup. This indicates that the activity could be partially attributed to some colored oxidized compounds.

Maple syrup extracts (50% inhibitory concentration = 42 +/- 6 mug/mL) and pure maple syrup have a discriminating in vitro antiproliferative action against cancerous cells.

Reference: Journal of medicinal food. 01/02/2010; ISSN: 1557-7600, OI: 10.1089/jmf.2009.0029

About the Author - Sandy Harris writes for the diabetic easy recipes blog , her personal hobby blog focused on tips to prevent, cure and manage diabetes using healthy snacks and recipes.

In conclusion, the ongoing research still being generated each and every day will eventually result in either more positive (or maybe negative) results, but check with your doctor if you are a lover of maple sugar and its extracts because trying to find a way to motivate and adhere to a diet beneficial for the diabetic has always been the biggest stumbling block in many people's diets.

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