We all know that maple syrup makes things better.
Just picture a warm stack of pancakes with a pat of butter. I don’t know about you, but as delicious as they are, I’m not sure I’d even want them if I couldn’t top them with some pure maple syrup.
And while maple syrup certainly makes breakfast better, it turns out that filling the nooks and crannies of waffles isn’t all that this natural sweetener is good for.
While pure maple syrup is definitely a sugary treat, it’s a better option than the bottled artificial stuff because it contains phenolic compounds. These not only give maple syrup its golden color; they also give it an amazing superpower – it can help you fight infections.
In Canada, native people have been using maple syrup for centuries to fight infections. So researchers decided to investigate whether there was any science behind this practice. It turns out, maple syrup does have beneficial antimicrobial activity – if you use it right.
The research team extracted the phenolic compounds from maple syrup and used it to treat several bacterial strains known to cause disease. Unfortunately, the results were underwhelming. But the lead researcher, Nathalie Tufenkji, PhD, has been interested in folk medicine long enough to know that there’s usually a good reason for the use of traditional remedies. She decided to keep trying, but rather than using the extract on its own, she mixed it with a couple of common antibiotics.
This time, the team identified a powerful synergy. In fact, adding the extract allowed the team to use a whopping 90% less antibiotic to get the same antimicrobial effect on a number of common bacterial strains. These included E. coli and Proteus mirabilis, which causes urinary tract infections.
The team then moved on to testing the extract with fruit flies and moth larvae. They coated the critters’ food in bacteria and antibiotics. Some got the maple extract as well, and when they did, they lived longer than those without it.
The researchers believe the phenolic compounds may be making bacterial cells more permeable, making it much easier for antibiotics to get inside and do their job. They also suspect that the extract could be disabling the bacterial “pump” that removes the antibiotics when they get inside. This adds up to a much lower dose of antibiotics needed to kill the bacteria.
As you may know, overuse of antibiotics is causing all kinds of problems, particularly the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. While it will take some time to develop an extract we can use in humans, I’m excited about this line of research. We all need to do our part to reduce antibiotic overuse, including avoiding consuming antibiotics in our food supply and taking them unnecessarily. An extract like this will make it easier to cut down our intake even when antibiotics are truly necessary to fight a bacterial infection.