In a market flooded with sports drinks claiming to improve athletes’ hydration, stamina and performance, one truly all-natural beverage has VCOM-Louisiana Assistant Dean for Research and Sports Medicine, Randy Aldret, EdD, LAT, ATC, CSCS*D, touting its benefits.
New research published in the Journal of Food and Nutrition Research has found that Maple Water helps people boost their aerobic performance (VO2 Max) and decrease inflammation.
Maple water is the clear liquid that flows from maple trees in the early spring. Also known as sap, maple water goes through a natural process that infuses it with nutrients from the ground.
Randy Aldret, Dr. David Bellar and their team of researchers established a cohort of people to test the effects of Maple Water. Drink Simple Maple Water provided beverages for the test subjects.
“The times the people drank Maple Water and ran the treadmill, they performed better than when they drank the placebo,” said Aldret. “There was an ergogenic effect with Maple Water.”
The study further showed that the benefits of Maple Water were seen in more areas than while running. “On the days where they consumed Maple Water, they had decreases in two pro-inflammatory markers and one increase in an anti-inflammatory marker, which meant they had improved their ability to ward off inflammation post-exercise,” said Aldret. “It’s a big thing. On top of it making them perform better, they even recovered better by consuming Maple Water.” This is a stark contrast to the commercially available energy drinks on the market.
“Drink Simple Maple Water is great tasting, easy to consume, and it’s very simple without overloading with high fructose corn syrup and similar things like you see in other sports drinks. Plus, there’s nothing in the beverage that would be harmful for diabetic populations,” said Aldret. “We may be on to one of those super-food kinds of products, but for exercise and recovery.”
