5 Reasons to Drink Maple Water Now and Boost Your Immune System
1. Maple sap supports a healthy immune response.
Image by Lauren Bienko
If you are trying to boost your immunity right now, you have likely come across articles that focus on foods that you should eat. While eating foods like fruits, veggies, and nuts are super-important to support a healthy immune system, not every article highlights what you can drink to accomplish a similar goal.
Drink Simple Maple Water is a hydrating beverage that can be an important part of a healthy and immune-supporting diet and lifestyle. Not only does it taste amazing, but it also naturally offers some unique benefits for your body.
2. Maple water naturally contains antioxidants.
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Loading your body up with antioxidants can play a positive role on immunity (1). Yes, the big players like orange juice and blueberries are loaded with immune-boosting antioxidants, but don’t neglect maple sap, which is the main ingredient in Drink Simple Maple Water. Maple sap naturally contains antioxidants (2), which are molecules that fight off a condition called oxidative stress.
Drinking Drink Simple Maple Water is a simple way to load your body up with antioxidants if you are grabbing a drink for yourself. If you just can’t do without your fruit juice, try mixing it with Drink Simple Sparkling Maple Water with a half-half ratio for an effervescent treat with fewer calories.
3. Maple water naturally contains prebiotics.
Did you know that approximately 70% of your immune system is in your gut? (3) Thank probiotics, which are live bacteria that are good for your body. Some of these bacteria stimulate and help support your immune system in different ways.
When you eat or drink something that has live probiotics (think yogurts, kombucha, and kimchi), you are helping colonize your body with live and beneficial bacteria. These bacteria basically set up their home in places in your body like your gut and do great things like keep the immune system stimulated.
Like all living things, probiotics need to eat, and they depend on you, the host, to deliver. Their fuel-of-choice is prebiotics. Prebiotics are carbohydrates that are indigestible to humans and feed the probiotics. Foods like Jerusalem artichoke and under ripe bananas are excellent sources of prebiotics.
Maple sap also contains natural prebiotics (4) that feed probiotics and therefore supports the immune system. Since Drink Simple Maple Water is made from real maple sap, choosing it as a drink supports your gut microbiota by keeping your probiotics healthy. It is a perfect choice to include as a smoothie liquid if you are using prebiotic-rich foods like yogurts in your recipe to make sure you are loading your body up with fuel for the prebiotics you are taking in.
4. Maple sap may stimulate immune cells.
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Preliminary research suggests that treating certain animals with a maple sap may stimulate immune cells in the body during an infection. In one study, researchers treated certain animals with a compound known to impair the immune system, then administered increasing concentrations of maple sap (5).
Results suggest that treatment with maple sap stimulated the activity of neutrophils (immune cells) in the subjects. In other words, maple sap may support the stimulation of immune cells in the body during an infection. Although more studies need to be conducted and need to use humans as subjects, it is promising to see this effect in animals.
5. Maple water is super-hydrating.
Image by Eat Your Coffee
It may sound basic, but staying hydrated is one of the best things you can do to support your immune health. Staying hydrated helps your body get rid of toxins and bacteria that may cause you to get sick. Additionally, your immune system depends on your body’s ability to move blood to transport important things to tissues. Since blood is 90% water, being dehydrated does not support this transport system’s efficiency very much.
Drink Simple Maple Water is just as hydrating as water, according to a clinical trial published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (6). It is satisfying and quenches your thirst in a unique way. While there are tons of “waters” on the market these days, choosing one that has been clinically shown to be just as hydrating as water is important when trying to support your immune health.
Bottom Line
Eating lots of fruits and veggies, exercising, sleeping well, and choosing beverages wisely are all things you can do to support your immune health. Sipping on Drink Simple Maple Water to help keep you hydrated and supplied with antioxidants and prebiotics is an easy step to help keep your body fueled and healthy.
Written by Lauren Manaker MS, RDN, LD, CLEC
Edited by Nancy Chen
Lauren is a nutritionist and executive committee member of the Women's Health DPG of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a recipient of Emerging Leader in Women's Health Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the author of Fueling Male Fertility. You can find her on Instagram at @LaurenManaker_rdn or on her website, Nutrition Now Counseling.