Everyone knows that real maple syrup is delicious and nutritious, but now it turns out it may help fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well.
It’s been known for a while that maple syrup is good for your health in many ways, including nutrients like riboflavin, zinc, magnesium, calcium and potassium and 54 different antioxidants. It’s much healthier than sugar, and best of all can be made in your own backyard.
But now researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have discovered another benefit: a compound in maple syrup reduces bacteria’s ability to resist antibiotics.
Using syrup purchased at local stores, they extracted the phenols, concentrated them, and tested it on different types of bacteria including E. coli and Proteus mirabilis, a bacteria that causes urinary tract infections in catheter patients.
“The extract was mildly effective in combatting the bacteria by itself, but when paired with antibiotics it was significantly effective…
It destroyed entire communities — called biofilms — which build in stubborn infections such as those that occur in the urinary tract for patients wearing a catheter.”
It works by affecting the bacteria’s own genes, “snuffing out those linked with resistance and virulence.” Basically, the bacteria loses the ability to spread and adapt.
Professor Nathalie Tufenkji of McGill says:
“We would have to do in vivo tests, and eventually clinical trials, before we can say what the effect would be in humans. But the findings suggest a potentially simple and effective approach for reducing antibiotic usage.”
The original study, published in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal, can be found here.
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This article originally appeared at Examiner.com
