INTRODUCTION
Royal jelly is the food for larvae which will develop into queen bees. It is secreted from the worker bees' salivary glands, which contains a mixture of sterols, glycosides, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and a large amount of proteins. Its potential benefits are mainly related to its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. This article reviews studies related to its potential health benefits, side effects and composition.
COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTS IN MARKETS
Royal Jelly is very nutritious, it is the sole food for the queen bee, contains nucleic acids, ATP, ADP, AMP, different kinds of minerals, B-vitamins, vitamins A, C, D, E and K. Most commercial Royal Jelly supplement-products are sold as capsules. For most products, the unit dose is 500 mg of fresh royal jelly or 167 mg of freeze-dried royal jelly. Most products recommended 1-2 unit dose daily. Royal Jelly is also popularly combined with ginseng.
POTENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF ROYAL JELLY
BLOOD PRESSURE Royal jelly protein hydrolysate also shows blood pressure lowering effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats.[2],
CHOLESTEROL A human study shows Royal Jelly supplements lower cholesterol levels. [3]
ENDURANCE A study shows that royal jelly prolonged the life span of mice. [1] In a study, mice were forced to swim for 15 min once; then the maximum swimming time to fatigue was measured. The swimming endurance of the royal jelly group significantly increased compared with others. The royal jelly group showed significantly decreased accumulation of serum lactate and serum ammonia and decreased depletion of muscle glycogen after swimming. [4]
FERTILITY Some people try to get pregnant, they may begin with "natural ways" to boost their fertility. Internet marketers promote royal jelly supplement as an aid for couples to achieve pregnancy. An internet writer suggests that royal jelly increases libido, supports egg and sperm health. However, only a few articles were found in the related topics. Anyway, here are two interesting studies: 1. Royalactin, a component of royal jelly, induces queen differentiation in honeybees. royalactin increased body size and ovary development and shortened developmental time in honeybees. This compound also has similar effects in the fruitfly. It is believed that royalactin activates p70 S6 kinase, which was responsible for the increase of body size, increased the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinase, [A1, A2] 2. Male rabbits under heat stress have fertility issue leading to major production losses. In a study of male rabbits under heat stress, royal jelly treatments significantly boosted testosterone level, increased ejaculated volume, increased seminal plasma fructose, improved sperm motility, increase sperm total output, reduced abnormal sperm and dead sperm compared to the heat stressed control animals. [A3]
Hair Conditions Royal jelly contains a high level of biotin, compared to a few supplements. (B1) Biotin is necessary for cell growth, the production of fatty acids, and the metabolism of fats and amino acids. It plays a role in the citric acid cycle. Symptoms of biotin deficiency include Hair loss (alopecia), conjunctivitis and dermatitis. Folic acid itself is not biologically active, but its biological importance is due to tetrahydrofolate and other derivatives after its conversion to dihydrofolic acid in the liver. The human body needs folate to synthesize DNA, repair DNA, and methylate DNA as well as to act as a cofactor in certain biological reactions. Folic acid is definitely important in aiding rapid cell division and growth. While, inositol functions as the basis for a number of signaling and secondary messenger molecules for insulin signal transduction, gene expression, etc. Thus, marketers suggest biotin and two other ingredients of royal jelly may help to prevent hair loss. Inositol is essental for hair growth, biotin helps produce keratin (for hair and nail growth), folic acid improves skin regeneration and hair growth. Finally, the health benefits of roayl jelly on the hair conditions claimed include: moisturizing, solution for dandruff, unblocking hair follicles, improving hair thickness, against radicals (anti-oxidation effects), and scalp rejuvenation. However, NO related scientific articles were found to support these health benefit claims on hair conditions. (June 14, 2024)
SIDE EFFECTS Allergic reactions to royal jelly have been reported. Asthma, together with anaphylaxis, have been observed in subjects following ingestion of royal jelly. [5] A 53-year-old woman developed abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea after taking of Royal Jelly. [6] Further royal jelly has blood thinning properties and hence those on blood thinning agents should be cautious.
REFERENCE
[1] Royal Jelly prolongs the life span of C3H/HeJ mice: correlation with reduced DNA damage.
Exp Gerontol. 2003. [2]Antihypertensive effect of peptides from royal jelly in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 2004. [3] Royal jelly supplementation improves lipoprotein metabolism in humans. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol. 2007. [4] Anti-fatigue effect of fresh royal jelly in mice., J Nutr Sci Vitaminol 2001. [5] Food-induced anaphylaxis caused by ingestion of royal jelly. J Dermatol. 2006.[6] Case report: haemorrhagic colitis associated with royal jelly intake. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1997.[7] Royal jelly consumption and hypersensitivity in the community., Clin Exp Allergy. 1997. [8] Asthma and anaphylaxis induced by royal jelly. Clin Exp Allergy. 1996.
[A1] Yamanaka N, O'Connor MB. Apiology: royal secrets in the queen's fat body. Curr Biol. 2011 Jul
12;21(13):R510-2. [A2] Kamakura M. Royalactin induces queen differentiation in honeybees. Nature. 2011 May 26;473(7348):478-83 [A3] Elnagar SA. Royal jelly counteracts bucks' "summer infertility". Anim Reprod Sci. 2010 Aug;121(1-2):174-80. (B1) Kou Hayakawa et al, Determination of biotin (vitamin H) by the high-performance affinity chromatography with a trypsin-treated avidin-bound column, J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2008 Jun 15;869(1-2):93-100.