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royal jelly

 
Dictionary: royal jelly
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n.
A nutritious substance secreted by the pharyngeal glands of worker bees that serves as food for all young larvae and as the only food for larvae that will develop into queen bees.


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Food and Nutrition: royal jelly
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The food on which bee larvae are fed and which causes them to develop into queen bees. Although it is a rich source of pantothenic acid and other vitamins, in the amounts consumed it would make a negligible contribution to human intakes. Of its dry weight, 2% is hydroxy-decenoic acid, which is believed to be the active queen substance. Claimed, without foundation, to have rejuvenating properties for human beings.

Alternative Medicine Encyclopedia: Royal Jelly
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Description

Royal jelly, which is sometimes called bee's milk, is a thick creamy liquid secreted by special glands in young worker bees who serve as "nurses" to the hive.

All bee larvae are fed a small amount of royal jelly mixed with honey for the first three days of their lives. Starting on day four, however, most of the bees are weaned from this diet and develop into worker bees. But one bee, hatched from an egg identical to the rest, is fed exclusively on royal jelly. That bee becomes the queen. She will grow, on average, 40% larger than her fellow bees, perhaps 50% heavier, and live up to 40 or 50 times as long. And all the while, she will be producing enormous numbers of eggs, equal to more than twice her own body weight, every single day.

This phenomenon has led numerous researchers and practitioners to explore both the chemical composition and the potential therapeutic uses of royal jelly, particularly over the last several decades. Among other things, the complex substance has been found to be rich in amino acids (including the eight essential to human life), essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, RNA, DNA, and many other elements of clinically proven usefulness. Other compounds in royal jelly have yet to be identified.

General Use

Proponents of apitherapy (which also includes the use of other hive products, such as bee pollen, propolis, and bee venom) make many claims for the virtues of royal jelly. Among other things, it is said to increase appetite and general vigor; retard aging; boost longevity; accelerate healing; strengthen the immune system; and exhibit antibiotic and antiviral properties. Specific claims for royal jelly have been made in connection with Parkinson's disease and other nervous disorders; arthritis; and reproductive and sexual functioning.

Clinical studies over the last several decades have reported evidence supporting some of these claims, including shrinking tumors in mice, reducing cholesterol levels in humans, fighting microbial and viral infections, and reducing the trembling associated with Parkinson's disease. These accounts are case reports only, however, and not the results of controlled clinical trials.

Preparations

Royal jelly is available in various forms. In its pure state, it is a jelly that must be kept under refrigeration. It is also found in honey, which works to preserve it naturally. Royal jelly may be purchased in a freeze-dried form in capsules or tablets, sometimes combined with other bee products; it is also available as a liquid. In addition, royal jelly may appear as an ingredient in cosmetics, skin care products, and assorted ointments and salves.

Synthetic royal jelly has also been manufactured and marketed, but according to some sources, it does not produce the same effects, on either bees or human subjects, in clinical trials.

Precautions

Although apitherapy proponents maintain that royal jelly is not only entirely safe but almost miraculously beneficial, a number of deaths have been linked to its use. Australian researchers have reported cases of asthma said to have been induced by royal jelly (including at least one death), and a Japanese report blames royal jelly for causing a case of gastroenteritis. More research is needed, however, to clearly determine the connection between royal jelly and potential allergic reactions.

Side Effects

Some side effects have been reported for royal jelly, including occasional central nervous system symptoms, agitation, heart palpitations, insomnia, and anxiety.

Interactions

No instances of interactions with other medications have been reported.

Resources

Books

Cassileth, Barrie R. The Alternative Medicine Handbook. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.

Organizations

American Apitherapy Society. 5390 Grande Road, Hillsboro, OH 45133. (937) 364-1108. http://www.apitherapy.org/.

[Article by: Peter Gregutt]

WordNet: royal jelly
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a secretion of the pharyngeal glands of bees that is fed to very young larvae and to bees destined to be queens

Wikipedia: Royal jelly
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A jar of royal jelly.[dubious – discuss]

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 (among other substances) to feed the larvae in the colony.[1] Additionally, if a queen bee is desired, a chosen larva will receive large quantities of royal jelly as its only food source for the first four days of its growth. This rapid, early feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.

All larvae in a colony are fed royal jelly, but adult bees do not consume it at all.[1]

Contents

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 (honeycomb) when the queen larvae are 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 larvae 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 500 g 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. Sometimes honey or beeswax are added to the royal jelly, which is thought to aid its preservation.

Composition

Royal jelly is collected and sold 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). 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 (monosaccharides), 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] The fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, are completely absent from royal jelly.[2]

Epigenetic effects

It has been shown that worker bees and the queen are exactly the same genome-wise; the change into queen is caused entirely by epigenetics. The mechanism of action of the royal jelly is shown to be the silencing of the methylation pathways of the DNA. In the study by Kucharski et al., a specific methyltransferase gene, Dmnt3 (DNA cytosine-5-methylatransferase-3), which adds new methyl tags to DNA strands, was silenced in newly emerged larvae. 72% of these larvae showed gene expression similar to the queen, with fully developed ovaries. It is not yet fully known which substance in the royal jelly causes this silencing.[3]

Uses

Royal jelly has been reported as a possible immunomodulatory agent in Graves' disease.[4] It has also been reported to stimulate the growth of glial cells[5] and neural stem cells in the brain.[6] To date, there is preliminary evidence that it may have some cholesterol-lowering, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, and antibiotic effects, though the last three of these effects are unlikely to be realized if ingested (due to the destruction of the substances involved through digestion, or neutralization via changes in pH).[7] Research also suggests that the 10-Hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) found in royal jelly may inhibit the vascularization of tumors.[8] There are also some preliminary experiments (on cells and lab animals) in which royal jelly may have some benefit regarding certain other diseases, though there is no solid evidence for those claims, and further experimentation and validation would be needed to prove any useful benefit.

Royal jelly can also be found in some beauty products.

Royal jelly may cause allergic reactions in humans ranging from hives, asthma, to even fatal anaphylaxis.[9][10][11][12][13][14] The incidence of allergic side effect in people that consume royal jelly is unknown, however it has been suggested that the risk of having an allergy to royal jelly is higher in people who already have known allergies.[9]

In fiction

 This "In popular culture" section may contain too many minor or trivial references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and remove trivia references. (November 2009)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Graham, J. (ed.) (1992) The Hive and the Honey Bee (Revised Edition). Dadant & Sons.
  2. ^ "Value-added products from beekeeping. Chapter 6.". http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e16.htm. 
  3. ^ Kucharski R, Nutritional Control of Reproductive Status in Honeybees via DNA Methylation. Science. 2008 Mar 28;319(5871):1827-3
  4. ^ Erem C, Deger O, Ovali E, Barlak Y. The effects of royal jelly on autoimmunity in Graves' disease. Endocrine. 2006 Oct;30(2):175-83.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ PDR Health, Royal Jelly. available online
  8. ^ Izuta, Hiroshi; Yuichi Chikaraishi, Masamitsu Shimazawa, Satoshi Mishima and Hideaki Hara (October 22, 2007). "10-Hydroxy-2-decenoic Acid, a Major Fatty Acid from Royal Jelly, Inhibits VEGF-induced Angiogenesis in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells" (in English). Oxford Journals. http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nem152. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  9. ^ a b Leung R, Ho A, Chan J, Choy D, Lai CK. Royal jelly consumption and hypersensitivity in the community. Clin Exp Allergy. 1997 Mar;27(3):333-6. PMID: 9088660.
  10. ^ Takahama H, Shimazu T. Food-induced anaphylaxis caused by ingestion of royal jelly. J Dermatol. 2006 Jun;33(6):424-6.
  11. ^ Lombardi C, Senna GE, Gatti B, Feligioni M, Riva G, Bonadonna P, Dama AR, Canonica GW, Passalacqua G. Allergic reactions to honey and royal jelly and their relationship with sensitization to compositae. Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 1998 Nov-Dec;26(6):288-90.
  12. ^ Thien FC, Leung R, Baldo BA, Weiner JA, Plomley R, Czarny D. Asthma and anaphylaxis induced by royal jelly. Clin Exp Allergy. 1996 Feb;26(2):216-22.
  13. ^ Leung R, Thien FC, Baldo B, Czarny D. Royal jelly-induced asthma and anaphylaxis: clinical characteristics and immunologic correlations. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1995 Dec;96(6 Pt 1):1004-7.
  14. ^ Bullock RJ, Rohan A, Straatmans JA. Fatal royal jelly-induced asthma. Med J Aust. 1994 Jan 3;160(1):44.
  15. ^ Dahl, Roald (1960). Kiss Kiss. New York: Knopf. 

References

  • 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, 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.
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Alternative Medicine Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Royal jelly".  Read more