Royal jelly

Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of the larvae. It is secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands in the heads of young workers and used (amongst other substances) to feed all of the larvae in the colony, including those destined to become workers. If a queen is needed, the hatchling will receive only royal jelly - and in large quantities - as its food source for the first four days of its growth, and this rapid, early feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs. Some commercial royal jelly suppliers disseminate misinformation such as "Only queen larvae and adult queens are fed royal jelly"; the fact remains that all larvae in a colony are fed royal jelly, and adult bees do not consume it at all.^[1]

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Cultivation

Royal jelly is produced by stimulating colonies with movable frame hives to produce queen bees. Royal jelly is collected from each individual queen cell when the larva is about four days old. It is collected from queen cells because these are the only cells in which large amounts are deposited; when royal jelly is fed to worker larvae, it is fed directly to them, and they consume it as it is produced, while the cells of queen larvae are "stocked" with royal jelly much faster than the larva can consume it. Therefore, only in queen cells is the harvest of royal jelly practical.

A well-managed hive during a season of 5-6 months can produce approximately 500g of royal jelly. Since the product is perishable, producers must have immediate access to proper cold storage (e.g., a household refrigerator or freezer) in which the royal jelly is stored until it is sold or conveyed to a collection centre.

This product is combined with honey, or beeswax for preservation, as it spoils easily.

Uses and composition

Human ingestion of Royal Jelly is reputed to cause severe even fatal allergic reactions in rare cases.^[2]

People collect and sell royal jelly as a dietary supplement, claiming various health benefits because of components like B-complex vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B₅) and vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine); it can also be found in various beauty products. The overall composition of royal jelly is 67% water, 12.5% crude protein (including small amounts of many different amino acids), and 11% simple sugars, also including a relatively high amount (5%) of fatty acids. It also contains many trace minerals, some enzymes, antibacterial and antibiotic components, and trace amounts of vitamin C.^[1] Contrary to claims by many of those promoting its use, vitamins A, D, and E are completely absent from royal jelly.[1] Independent research has already disproved, or is needed to confirm or disprove, many of the purported health claims, such as reports of hormonal activity (unknown in the bees themselves, the most abundant sterol is cholesterol, which is not itself a hormone). To date, there is only preliminary evidence that it may have some cholesterol-lowering effects, as well as immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing and antibiotic effects, though the last three of these effects are unlikely to be realized if ingested (digestion of the substances involved, or neutralization via changes in pH).^[3]

Royal Jelly has been reported to stimulate the growth of Glial Cells^[4] and Neural Stem Cells in the brain,^[5] which may account for its reputation as a longer-term cognitive enhancer and as a beneficial agent in cases of Parkinson's Disease.

Royal Jelly might be effective as an immunomodulatory agent in Graves' disease.^[6]

In popular culture

The short story Royal Jelly by Roald Dahl was published in the February 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine. This also became a Tale of the Unexpected.

Many computer games, such as NetHack and Paper Mario 2, contain "royal jelly" food items which usually give some sort of strength or health bonus when consumed.

In the comedy series Futurama, season 4, the Planet Express crew is sent to a space bee colony to collect space jelly. Leela takes royal jelly, and experiences hallucinations.

In the Aliens comic book series, "Royal Jelly" is produced by Queen Aliens and can be used to make new Queens. It also sometimes has hallucinogenic properties, and some variations have been used as a steroid.

In Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Dewey (John C. Reilly) sings a nonsensical song with the title "Royal Jelly".

Sources

• Balch, Phyllis A.; Balch, James F. (2000). Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Third Edition. New York: Avery. ISBN 1-58333-077-1. 
• Ammon, R. and Zoch, E. (1957) Zur Biochemie des Futtersaftes der Bienenkoenigin. Arzneimittel Forschung 7: 699-702
• Blum, M.S., Novak A.F. and Taber III, 5. (1959). 10-Hydroxy-decenoic acid, an antibiotic found in royal jelly. Science (journal), 130 : 452-453
• Bonomi, A. (1983) Acquisizioni in tema di composizione chimica e di attivita' biologica della pappa reale. Apitalia, 10 (15): 7-13.
• Braines, L.N. (1959). Royal jelly I. Inform. Bull. Inst. Pchelovodstva, 31 pp (with various articles)
• Braines, L.N. (1960). Royal jelly II. Inform. Bull. Inst. Pchelovodstva, 40 pp.
• Braines, L.N. (1962). Royal jelly III. Inform. Bull. Inst. Pchelovodstva, 40
• Chauvin, R. and Louveaux, 1. (1956) Etdue macroscopique et microscopique de lagelee royale. L'apiculteur.
• Cho, Y.T. (1977). Studies on royal jelly and abnormal cholesterol and triglycerides. Amer. Bee 1., 117 : 36-38
• De Belfever, B. (1958) La gelee royale des abeilles. Maloine, Paris.
• Destrem, H. (1956) Experimentation de la gelee royale d'abeille en pratique geriatrique (134 cas). Rev. Franc. Geront, 3.
• Giordani, G. (1961). [Effect of royal jelly on chickens.] Avicoltura 30 (6): 114-120
• Hattori N, Nomoto H, Fukumitsu H, Mishima S, Furukawa S. [Royal jelly and its unique fatty acid, 10-hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid, promote neurogenesis by neural stem/progenitor cells in vitro.] Biomed Res. 2007 Oct;28(5):261-6.
• Hashimoto M, Kanda M, Ikeno K, Hayashi Y, Nakamura T, Ogawa Y, Fukumitsu H, Nomoto H, Furukawa S. (2005) Oral administration of royal jelly facilitates mRNA expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor and neurofilament H in the hippocampus of the adult mouse brain. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2005 Apr;69(4):800-5.
• Inoue, T. (1986). The use and utilization of royal jelly and the evaluation of the medical efficacy of royal jelly in Japan. Proceeding sof the XXXth International Congress of Apiculture, Nagoya, 1985, Apimondia, 444-447
• Jean, E. (1956). A process of royal jelly absorption for its incorporation into assimilable substances. Fr. Pat., 1,118,123
• Jacoli, G. (1956) Ricerche sperimentali su alcune proprieta' biologiche della gelatina reale. Apicoltore d'Italia, 23 (9-10): 211-214.
• Karaali, A., Meydanoglu, F. and Eke, D. (1988) Studies on composition, freeze drying and storage of Turkish royal jelly. J. Apic. Res., 27 (3): 182-185.
• Lercker, G., Capella, P., Conte, L.S., Ruini, F. and Giordani, G. (1982) Components of royal jelly: II. The lipid fraction, hydrocarbons and sterolds. J. Apic. Res. 21(3):178-184.
• Lercker, G., Vecchi, M.A., Sabatini, A.G. and Nanetti, A. 1984. Controllo chimicoanalitico della gelatina reale. Riv. Merceol. 23 (1): 83-94.
• Lercker, G., Savioli, S., Vecchi, M.A., Sabatini, A.G., Nanetti, A. and Piana, L. (1986) Carbohydrate Determination of Royal Jelly by High Resolution Gas Chromatography (HRGC). Food Chemistry, 19: 255-264.
• Lercker, G., Caboni, M.F., Vecchi, M.A., Sabatini, A.G. and Nanetti, A. (1992) Caratterizzazione dei principali costituenti della gelatina reale. Apicoltura 8:11-21.
• Nakamura, T. (1986) Quality standards of royal jelly for medical use. proceedings of the XXXth International Congress of Apiculture, Nagoya, 1985 Apimondia (1986) 462-464.
• Rembold, H. (1965) Biological active sustance in royal jelly. Vitamins and hormones 23:359-382.
• Salama, A., Mogawer, H.H. and El-Tohamy, M. 1977 Royal jelly a revelation or a fable. Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Science 14 (2): 95-102.
• Takenaka, T. Nitrogen components and carboxylic acids of royal jelly. In Chemistry and biology of social insects (edited by Eder, J., Rembold, H.). Munich, German Federal Republic, Verlag J. Papemy (1987): 162-163.
• Wagner, H., Dobler, I., Thiem, I. Effect of royal jelly on the peirpheral blood and survival rate of mice after irradiation of the entire body with X-rays. Radiobiologia Radiotherapia (1970) 11(3): 323-328.

References