What is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is a natural product that is secreted from the hypo pharyngeal glands of worker honeybees. Within the bee community, royal jelly is used to feed larvae. If a new queen is needed, one larva will be selected and will receive large quantities of royal jelly for about four days. This special feeding cycle will allow the larva to implement the “queen morphology” process, which will develop fully functioning ovaries for the laying of eggs.
In addition to being a vital part of a bee’s lifecycle, royal jelly is also considered to provide many health benefits to humans. This compound has a unique makeup and consists of B-complex vitamins, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, and about 12.5% crude protein that contain amino acids. Royal jelly is also comprised of about 67% water, and 11% simple sugars (that contain about 5% fatty acids).
There are also traces of various minerals, enzymes, vitamin C, and certain types of antibacterial and antibiotic properties. Interestingly, there is no evidence of vitamins A, D, E, or K found in this compound. Because of this unique formulation, royal jelly is used for a wide variety of purposes from cosmetics and beauty products, to treatment for genetic conditions.
Royal jelly has been successfully used to as an immunodulatory agent for those suffering with Graves’ disease, to stimulate the growth of neural stem cells and glial cells in the brain, and has even been shown to have anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antibiotic, and cholesterol lowering characteristics.
There are several studies currently being conducted on the effects of royal jelly on various other types of diseases and genetic conditions. This product is considered to be fairly safe, but may cause allergic reactions in some individuals. These reactions include hives, asthma, and even anaphylaxis; however, these reactions were more common in individuals that suffer from other types of allergies.
Royal jelly is harvested from honeybees, from individual queen cells, when the larvae are about four days old. These queen cells have the largest amounts of jelly and colonies are often further stimulated to produce even larger amounts by moving hives to produce more cells. In commercial harvesting operations, a managed hive can produce about 500 grams of royal jelly every five to six months. Royal jelly is quite perishable and must be immediately stored in a refrigerator or freezer. Some harvesters will also add beeswax or honey to help preserve the royal jelly and extend shelf life.
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