Maple Syrup
Also known as: Pure maple syrup, Grade A
Boiled-down maple sap. Mostly sucrose with manganese, zinc and quebecol.
At a glance
How Maple Syrup compares to table sugar on the three numbers most people actually want.
What it actually is
Pure maple syrup is concentrated maple sap (40:1 ratio). It is roughly 60% sucrose with smaller amounts of glucose and fructose, plus a meaningful dose of manganese (one tablespoon ≈ 25% of an adult's daily Adequate Intake) and 24+ identified polyphenols — including quebecol, formed during boiling.
Its lower GI relative to sucrose is real but modest. From a metabolic standpoint, treat it as added sugar; the polyphenols are a bonus, not a license.
Avoid 'pancake syrup' or 'breakfast syrup' — these are typically high-fructose corn syrup with caramel colour and artificial flavour, a different product.
- Lower GI than sucrose (~54 vs 65)
- Real manganese, zinc, polyphenols
- Distinctive flavour that pairs beautifully with savoury
- Still 60% sucrose — counts as added sugar
- Premium price
- Often confused with pancake syrup, which is HFCS
Regulatory status
In practice
- Baking, glazes, salad dressings, breakfast
- Diabetic
- Keto
Pure maple syrup, granola, maple-glazed pork
The evidence
Selected peer-reviewed sources behind the score. Open access where possible. Read our scoring methodology for how we weight evidence tiers.
Recommended swaps
Higher-scoring alternatives that perform similarly in use.