Chemical Compositional, Biological, and Safety Studies of a Novel Maple Syrup Derived Extract for Nutraceutical Applications

Abstract

Maple syrup has nutraceutical potential given the macronutrients (carbohydrates, primarily sucrose), micronutrients (minerals and vitamins), and phytochemicals (primarily phenolics) found in this natural sweetener. We conducted compositional (ash, fiber, carbohydrates, minerals, amino acids, organic acids, vitamins, phytochemicals), in vitro biological, and in vivo safety (animal toxicity) studies on maple syrup extracts (MSX-1 and MSX-2) derived from two declassified maple syrup samples. Along with macronutrient and micronutrient quantification, thirty-three phytochemicals were identified (by HPLC-DAD), and nine phytochemicals, including two new compounds, were isolated and identified (by NMR) from MSX. At doses of up to 1000 mg/kg/day, MSX was well tolerated with no signs of overt toxicity in rats. MSX showed antioxidant (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay) and anti-inflammatory (in RAW 264.7 macrophages) effects and inhibited glucose consumption (by HepG2 cells) in vitro. Thus, MSX should be further investigated for potential nutraceutical applications given its similarity in chemical composition to pure maple syrup.

Comparative analysis of maple syrup to other natural sweeteners and evaluation of their metabolic responses in healthy rats

“…Maple syrup is a natural source of carbohydrates that contains high amounts of unique polyphenols (Li & Seeram, 2010, 2011bZhang et al, 2014), but its metabolic impact remains poorly studied. In this report, we undertook to systematically compare the chemical composition of maple syrup with that of other natural sweeteners such as corn syrup, brown rice syrup, agave syrup, molasses and honey, and assess the metabolic responses to a single intake of these sugar sources in healthy rats.…”

Antihyperglycemic, antioxidant activities of two Acer palmatum cultivars, and identification of phenolics profile by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS: New natural sources of functional constituents

“…Most Acer species have been evidenced as a rich source of bio-active compounds. The research group of Navindra P. Seeram has isolated and identified a mass of flavonoids, phenolic acids and gallotannins from red maple Yuan et al, 2012), maple syrup (Zhang et al, 2014b) and sycamore maple (Zhang et al, 2015b). Attractively, a series of novel compounds, such as maplexin A-F, have been isolated and identified by means of chromatography techniques and elucidation of NMR and ESIMS data .…”

Administration of a maple syrup extract to mitigate their hepatic inflammation induced by a high-fat diet: a transcriptome analysis

“…Apostolidis et al 3) showed that a butanol extract of maple syrup inhibits α-glucosidase in vitro, possibly by preventing elevation of plasma glucose levels in maple syrup-fed OLETF rats. Recent studies have also reported that maple syrup contains many antioxidative phenolic compounds, [4][5][6][7] such as quebecol. 8) Dietary polyphenols have various functional effects, including anti-obesity 9) and cancer prevention.…”

“…6) Briefly, maple syrup (grade C-66°Brix; provided by the Federation of Maple Syrup Producers of Quebec, Canada) was diluted with deionized water and loaded to a resin column (XAD-16 Amberlite, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). The column was then eluted with 90% ethanol and the eluate was concentrated by vacuum evaporation and the material was spray-dried.…”