Pure maple syrup is low in oxalates. One tablespoon contains roughly 1 mg of oxalate, making it one of the safest sweetener choices if you’re watching your oxalate intake for kidney stone prevention or other reasons.
Oxalate Content Per Serving
Pure maple syrup contains about 3 mg of oxalate per 100 grams. Since a standard serving is one tablespoon (20 grams), that works out to approximately 1 mg of oxalate per serving. For context, foods are generally considered “high oxalate” when they deliver 25 mg or more per serving. Maple syrup doesn’t come close to that threshold.
Even if you’re generous with your pour, say two or three tablespoons on a stack of pancakes, you’re still looking at only 2 to 3 mg of oxalate. That’s a negligible amount compared to truly high-oxalate foods like spinach, which can pack over 600 mg in a single cooked cup, or almonds, which deliver around 120 mg per ounce.
How Maple Syrup Compares to Other Sweeteners
Most common sweeteners are low in oxalates, but there are some differences worth knowing about. Data from the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation breaks it down clearly:
- Maple syrup (1 tbsp): ~1 mg oxalate
- Honey (1 tbsp): ~1 mg oxalate
- Agave nectar (1 tbsp): ~1 mg oxalate
- White cane sugar (1 tsp): less than 1 mg oxalate
- Brown sugar (1 tsp): ~1 mg oxalate
- Corn syrup (1 tbsp): 0 mg oxalate
- Molasses (1 tbsp): ~6 mg oxalate
Maple syrup, honey, and agave are essentially interchangeable from an oxalate standpoint. The one sweetener that stands out is molasses, which contains 43 mg of oxalate per 100 grams and delivers about 6 mg per tablespoon. That’s still not extreme, but it’s noticeably higher than the rest. If you’re on a strict low-oxalate diet and use molasses regularly, it’s worth keeping that difference in mind.
Artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes like stevia, sucralose, and xylitol also clock in at very low levels, generally under 1 mg per serving. Corn syrup, both light and dark, registers at zero.
What This Means on a Low-Oxalate Diet
If you’re following a low-oxalate diet for calcium oxalate kidney stones, the typical daily target is under 100 mg of oxalate from food. The ideal range, according to the University of Chicago’s Kidney Stone Program, is closer to 50 mg per day. A tablespoon of maple syrup uses up just 1 mg of that budget, or roughly 1 to 2 percent of your daily allowance.
The average American diet contains 200 to 300 mg of oxalate per day, so most of the work in reducing your intake comes from cutting back on the big contributors: leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard, nuts, beets, sweet potatoes, and chocolate. Sweeteners, maple syrup included, are not a meaningful source of oxalates for the vast majority of people. You can use maple syrup freely without it making a dent in your daily total.
Watch What You Put It On
While maple syrup itself is perfectly fine, some of the foods people pair it with can be higher in oxalates. Oatmeal, for instance, contains moderate oxalate levels. Baked goods made with whole wheat flour or almond flour can add up quickly. Sweet potatoes drizzled with maple syrup are a double source. The syrup isn’t the problem in any of these combinations, but it’s worth being aware of the full picture of a meal rather than focusing on a single ingredient.
One more practical note: this applies to pure maple syrup. Pancake syrups that are primarily corn syrup with maple flavoring would contain even less oxalate, since corn syrup tests at zero. But if you’re choosing between the two, there’s no oxalate-based reason to avoid the real thing.