Disclaimer: The findings discussed are lab based and further studies need to be done.

Could maple products every day help keep the doctor away? Maybe.

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island examined how maple phytochemicals affect healthy and cancer cells by mixing maple phytochemicals with healthy cells in one experiment and mixing maple phytochemicals with cancer cells in another. Results showed that the maple compounds were effective in stopping cancer growth in the cancer cells and had minimal negative effects on the normal healthy cells.

This is significant to future chemotherapies because current therapies work by killing both cancer and healthy cells, causing chemotherapy patients to develop additional health risks. Yet, this did not happen in this study as the healthy cells were hardly effected. While more research needs to be done, this research opens the door for natural agents to be the future basis for chemotherapy.

Reference: González-Sarrías, A.; Ma, H.; Edmonds, M.E.; Seeram, N.P. Maple polyphenols, ginnalins A-C, induce S- and G2/M-cell cycle arrest in colon and breast cancer cells mediated by decreasing cyclins A and D1 levels. Food Chemistry, 2013, 136, 636-642.

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