Royal jelly is a real inimitable natural tonic for adults and children who, unlike honey known since ancient times, began to discover in Europe only in the seventeenth century. Royal jelly bees product has a gelatinous consistency and a white color, a pungent smell and a slightly acid taste. Discover now all about it.

Royal jelly: What is it?

Royal jelly is the product of a secretion of the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of the nourishment bees, young bee workers who in the succession determined by the age of the functions of the hive, have between 4 and 15 days of life.

Royal jelly comes from the transformation of pollen, which is the main protein food of bees, and therefore mainly intended to grow and maintain body structures.

Unlike the pollen, which is a biological structure almost completely of plant origin (except for some substances added by the bees to wrap and preserve it), the royal jelly is totally of animal processing. It is used immediately after secretion, it is not stored like pollen and honey.

Royal jelly and bees: Why is it produced?

Royal jelly is the exclusive nourishment of all the larvae of bees from hatching to the third-fifth day of life (that is until these are transformed into insects), as well as those larvae destined to develop in queens up to their fifth day of larval life (the moment when the cell is operculated and the development occurs as in a cocoon); and finally of the queen bee for the duration of his life. It is this nourishment that makes the queen, born of an egg identical to that of a working bee, become less twice as big and heavy in fewer days. That its larva can increase its weight by about two thousand times in five days. And also that a queen can have a life span of up to five years, while a worker lives around 45 days; and finally, that it is able to lay up to 2000 eggs a day for some years, while the workers are sterile.

Royal jelly: How is it produced?

Royal jelly is produced using and directing the natural biological mechanisms of the hive to its own ends. The amount of royal jelly that bees usually produce, to feed the queen and the larvae up to three days of age, is actually very small. It is in the spring, the period of the “swarming” (the way in which the bee families reproduce themselves), which the bees produce in large quantities instead. The old queen bee is preparing to swarm from the beehive with a part of the bees, when it has reached a level now overflowing with its development, while the bees, which in this “overflow” are no longer able to warn through the pheromones his presence, they raise a whole series of new queens. To this end they build a large number of round cells for the royal larvae, filling them with this rich nourishment.

Royal jelly: What does it contain?

The main constituents of fresh royal jelly are:

water (66-70%);
proteins (14-15%), of which most are amino acids, eight of which are considered essential for the human organism (isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine);
sugars (12-13%), including glucose, fructose and sucrose; to a lesser extent, from maltose, and ribose;
lipids (3-4%): Lipids are mostly made up of fatty acids, the most important of which are keto-trans-decendioic acid and the very rare hydroxy-trans-decendioic acid, which must be owned healthy;
minerals (2%): potassium (clearly prevailing) and in decreasing order of concentration, calcium, sodium, zinc, iron, copper and manganese are present;
vitamins: particularly abundant are those of group B (thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, inositol, folic acid), PP (nicotinic acid) H (biotin), vitamin A and E and traces of vitamins C and B12;
acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter and vasodilator, as well as an antibacterial and antibiotic factor;
other substances, such as pollen, hormones, substances with antibacterial and antibiotic activity.

In other words, royal jelly, has a complex composition that contains a considerable number of essential elements to human life in a synergy that would be impossible to carry out in the laboratory.

Royal jelly: properties and benefits

Royal jelly is used as a natural supplement, and is considered a food-drug to compensate for nutritional deficiencies that follow debilitating diseases. Yves Donadieu in “Royal Jelly” (1981) stated that royal jelly not only increases resistance to cold and aggression in general, but also increases vitality (Donadieu). Royal jelly is also an antiviral with not negligible antibiotic properties and seems to act on Proteus and E. coli.

It also recognizes the royal jelly antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity linked to the content of proteins, phenols and flavonoids (antioxidant molecules), carotene, ascorbic acid and 10-HDA; this antioxidant capacity is certainly useful for the prevention of some diseases (diabetes and cardiovascular diseases).

In general, royal jelly is used for its many properties. It contributes, in fact:

prevention of general aging and in particular of the skin;
volves a detoxifying activity;
improves the energy level;
optimizes the resistance of the organism;
facilitates the recovery of appetite by promoting the digestive process;
increases hemoglobin and red blood cells;
stimulates mood with mildly euphoric activity;
raises the threshold of pain perception;
increase the immune defense.

Royal jelly: why and when take it

Royal jelly is recommended in the following conditions:

in periods of stress and work effort, including mental effort;
during convalescence or during periods of hospitalization;
to support the body during seasonal changes;
training and athletic preparation;
as stimulating appetite in case of inappetence, weight loss;
as stimulant of metabolism in case of digestive difficulties;
iron deficiency anemia;
support for the growth phase;
tonic for children, adults and the elderly;
in cases of depression (in these cases acetylcholine and B vitamins can play a special role).

Royal jelly: which we have selected for you

Pappa reale regina (“Royal jelly Queen”) is a food supplement packed in 10 vials per box, drinkable, 10 ml, with measuring cap and the ingredients contained in it, as for all our other supplements, are all 100% Italian origin.

It is based on fresh royal jelly tit. min. 1.2% in 10-HDA (470 mg in 10 ml vial), lyophilized royal jelly tit. min. 3% in 10-HDA (10 mg in 10 ml vial), acacia honey (1165 mg in 10 ml vial). Natural ingredients with tonic and tonic effects, useful for school-age children but also for adults and the elderly, even in cases of inappetence.

The rigorous analytical controls to which Royal Queen Pappa is subjected, guarantee the precious ratio of proteins and sugars. We recommend taking one vial in the morning, every day.

Acacia honey is the most sought after honey both for its organoleptic characteristics and for its ability to maintain its fluid consistency.

It seems now that there are no differences between the use of fresh royal jelly and the lyophilized royal jelly (Chiereghin, 2005) because both contain the hydroxy decenoic acid (HDA) even if there are still those who doubt the use of the lyophilized royal jelly pointing out how the freeze-drying process exposes the jelly to thermal changes that could damage the most volatile substances. It is however true that fresh royal jelly is better because it contains the phytocomplex, in addition to being the natural form of processing of bees while the lyophilized allows to arrive before high doses of HDA (10 mg of lyophilized royal jelly is equivalent to 30 mg of fresh royal jelly) but it is a powdered form where the liquid part is eliminated.

Dr. Laura Comollo

For any clarification or for more information Contact us.

ALL RIGHT ARE RESERVED, THIS TEXT IS NOT REPRODUCIBLE WITHOUT EXPRESS AUTHORIZATION OF ERBORISTERIA COMO.

SOURCES:

U. Nardi: Apiterapia, ed. Aporie, 1992
Unione Nazionale Associazioni Apicoltori Italiani
Y. Donadieu: Pappa Reale, Maloine editore, Parigi, 1981
B. Brigo “natura e scienza”, 2018
P. Chiereghin “Fitoterapia per il farmacista”, 2005

Royal jelly: bees product for everyone’s health