What is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is a milky-white secretion produced by glands of worker honeybees to induce the superior growth and development of the queen bee. Royal jelly is the principal food of the honeybee queen.
Nutritional Value Of Royal Jelly
Royal jelly contains a rich variety of nutrients including minerals like calcium, copper, iron, phosphorous, silicon, sulfur, and potassium, as well as a wealth of B-family vitamins, biotin, inositol, folate, nucleic acids, gamma globulin, and 17 different amino acids, including the 8 essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce, and must therefore get from their diet.
Health Benefits Of Royal Jelly
Blood Pressure: Research has revealed that some of the proteins found in royal jelly have a direct effect on blood pressure levels in humans. This protein hydrolysate can have a long-lasting impact on blood pressure. When this is combined with the potassium found in it, which also acts as a vasodilator to reduce stress on blood vessels and the heart, royal jelly begins to look like a great way to prevent a variety of heart conditions.
Cholesterol Levels: Although most people associate sweet, delicious foods with unhealthy cholesterol, that isn’t the case with royal jelly. In fact, research has shown that consistently adding it to your diet can cause a notable drop in your “bad” cholesterol levels, thereby helping you prevent atherosclerosis and subsequent cardiovascular issues like heart attacks and strokes.
Infertility Issues: Although the exact function of royal jelly in the fertility process is unclear, some suspect that its impact on human fertility is connected to royalactin, which is the protein that affects the queen’s morphology and helps her become sexually viable. Whatever the reason happens to be,it has been shown to increase the fertility of men and increase sperm motility, thereby increasing their partner’s chances of becoming pregnant.
Cancer Prevention: There are a number of antioxidant agents found in royal jelly, but specifically, royal jelly shows an ability to inhibit bisphenol A, also known as BPA. This is an environmental estrogen, and it has been linked to increased levels of breast cancer. Therefore, by keeping enough royal jelly in your diet, you can help prevent this terrible, and yet tragically common, type of cancer.
Inflammation: The impressive range of vitamins and active enzymes in royal jelly make it a potential anti-inflammatory agent. However, as excessive heat will undo the enzymatic properties, so royal jelly cannot be ingested for those benefits. Therefore, you can topically apply royal jelly in a paste to certain affected areas of the body to relieve the pain of inflammation.
Osteoporosis & Bone Loss: A group of Japanese scientists hypothesized that Royal Jelly may have beneficial effects on osteoporosis.
After conducting a study on both rats and in a test tube, the doctors found that RJ may prevent osteoporosis by enhancing intestinal calcium absorption, making it an effective preventative aid for osteoporosis.
It makes a lot of sense to supplement with Royal Jelly along with your calcium and vitamin D if you are suffering from osteoporosis or have a history of it in your family. According to this study, RJ will enhance your body’s ability to absorb the calcium and in turn deposit it in your bone structure.
Diabetes and Blood Sugar Control : Earlier studies have shown that royal jelly has insulin-like activity. However, there have so far been no clinical trials to support these findings. So, a group of German doctors at the Justus-Liebig University Hospital in Germany had twenty volunteers undergo the standardized oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and afterwards a second OGTT after ingestion of 20 g of royal jelly.
The doctors found that after 2 hours, the serum sugar levels of the 20 volunteers were much lower after taking the 20 g of Royal Jelly than when they didn’t take it.
So, if you have any type of blood sugar issue, try supplementing with RJ. (if you are on insulin or Glucagon, make sure you monitor your levels carefully – RJ will reduce your sugars)
I am prone to blood sugar crashes. After reading this study, I’ve religously taken my Royal Jelly daily and my blood sugar crashed have disappeared.
What is the recommended dosage?
Clinical trials are generally lacking in the doses recommended. Small clinical trials have used 6 to 10 g royal jelly per day for 14 to 28 days in trials evaluating the effect on cholesterol.
How safe is it?
Contraindications
Contraindications have not been identified. Allergy to bee venom is considered a relative contraindication.
Pregnancy/nursing
Information regarding safety and efficacy in pregnancy and lactation is lacking. Royal jelly has some effect on female hormonal activity.
Interactions
Case reports of blood in the urine due to increased effect of warfarin have been documented.
Side Effects
In many allergy patients, skin tests were positive for royal jelly. There have been case reports of allergy, increased effects on asthma, hypersensitivity, and death.