Ingested maple syrup evokes a possible liver-protecting effect-physiologic and genomic investigations with rats.

Rats fed a 20%-maple syrup diet (maple syrup group) for 11 d showed significantly lower values of the hepatic function markers than those fed a 20%-sugar mix syrup diet (control). The reason was suggested by a DNA microarray analysis which revealed that the expression of genes for the enzymes of ammonia formation were down-regulated in the liver of the maple syrup group.