What is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly — sounds nice, right? Like something fit for a Queen? Royal jelly is just that. This substance, extracted from the glands of worker bees is reserved for the queen bee and potential queen larvae.
Once the queen emerges, she is continuously fed royal jelly. It is believed that this sweet, healthy nectar is responsible for helping the queen develop into a larger, more fertile, healthy bee.
Royal Jelly is not just beneficial for bees, however, this prestigious substance has may benefits for humans too. Royal jelly is rich in nutrients and helps to improve your health from reducing inflammation to lowering blood sugar levels.
Nutritional Value
The secret to royal jelly’s success is that it’s loaded with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, which help to deliver a wide array of health benefits. One group of vitamins you’ll find in abundance in royal jelly is B-vitamins, which are essential as they help our bodies process food into energy and help to form red blood cells.
Royal jelly is rich in minerals, as well. The minerals you’ll find in royal jelly are calcium, potassium, silicon, iron, phosphorous, copper, and sulfur. Nucleic acids, folate, gamma globulin, biotin, and inositol can also be found in royal jelly, each delivering their own unique sets of health benefits.
One big draw of consuming royal jelly is that it contains 17 amino acids– 17! Eight of which the body cannot produce on it’s own and therefore has get them via diet.
Health Benefits of Royal Jelly
With all the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids contained within royal jelly, it’s no wonder that this sweet substance is akin to a health tonic. While there still needs to be rigorous scientific study to back up these claims, listed here are all the benefits associated with royal jelly.
1) Anti-aging
One reason worker bees feed their queen royal jelly is to help expand her life expectancy. This translates to humans in the form of antioxidants.
Antioxidants are important because not only do they help preserve our appearance, but they also help to prevent diseases such as cancer as well. Antioxidants scavenge free radicals in the body, which can wreak havoc on our skin and mutate our healthy cells.
Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and help to reverse the damage done by them, preventing disease from overtaking our healthy cells.
In terms of our complexion, antioxidants help to prevent the development of fine lines, wrinkles, and age spots. One study found that taking a royal jelly supplement may help to improve the collagen levels of our skin, which encourages healthy cell turnover, keeping our skin supple and smooth.
Antioxidants also help to slow the aging process by preventing macular degeneration and hair loss.
2) Anti-inflammatory
Those suffering from inflammatory conditions such as arthritis may find that applying royal jelly topically may help to reduce inflammation. However, it should be noted that heating up royal jelly would kill the enzymatic properties responsible for the anti-inflammatory process.
Applying royal jelly as a healing paste to any area where you are experiencing joint pain will help soothe inflammation naturally.
3) Regulates Blood Pressure
Some preliminary studies indicate that royal jelly may help to regulate blood pressure. Royal jelly is rich in the protein hydrolysate, which has been found to help lower high blood pressure.
When taken in conjunction with potassium, this combination helps to improve the condition of blood vessels, which help take the pressure off the heart. This helps to prevent the development of heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks.
4) Reduces Cholesterol
Another way royal jelly helps to improve the condition of your heart is by reducing LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol, also referred to as bad cholesterol, clogs up the arteries, causing all sorts of problems.
Some early studies have found that royal jelly may help to reduce LDL cholesterol levels, helping to prevent the development of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes.
5) Boosts Male Fertility
Some animal studies have found that royal jelly may help to improve male fertility. One such study found that royal jelly helped improved sperm production, viability, and sperm mobility in mice. While these studies have not been replicated in humans, these preliminary findings are promising.
6) Heals Wounds
Just like honey, royal jelly may help to speed up the healing of wounds. One study found that royal jelly applied at various concentrations helped decreased the time it took a wound to close.
One explanation may be that it increases the volume of lipids, which are essential in the wound healing process. Another reason royal jelly may be beneficial to the wound healing process is that it encourages the migration of fibroblasts.
Fibroblasts is a cell found in connective tissue which produces collagen and other healing fibers that helps increase the level of healing lipids.
7) Treats Osteoporosis
Royal Jelly may help to prevent the loss of bone density. One study in Turkey found that bee pollen and royal jelly helped reduce bone loss as a result of osteoporosis. Further studies need to be performed to determine how effective royal jelly is when it comes to treating osteoporosis.
8) Treats Symptoms of Menopause
Some research has found that royal jelly helps to ease the symptoms of menopause in women. It is believed that this nutritious food helps to boost the estrogen levels, therefore easing menopausal symptoms.
Women may find substantial relief when they pair royal jelly with ginseng, evening primrose oil, and daminana.
9) Boosts Cognition
Royal jelly is considered by many to be a brain food and may be helpful in preventing the development of Alzheimer’s. Some recent, although preliminary studies have found that the high antioxidant content of royal jelly helps to prevent the degeneration of fatty tissues in the brain, helping to prevent the development of neuro-degenerative diseases.
Not to be Confused With Honey
While it may come from the same source, it’s important not to confuse the benefits of honey with the benefits of royal jelly. Each substance has it’s own unique set of qualities and benefits. The benefits of honey are:
- Weight loss
- Works as a natural sweetener
- Antibacterial agent
- Heals wounds
- Treats sore throat
- Regulates insulin
- Reduces inflammation
Some Considerations
As with any supplement, you should always talk to your physician before starting any new healthcare routine. Before taking royal jelly, please consider the following:
- Little to no clinical trials have been performed to determine the efficacy of royal jelly. More controlled studies need to be conducted to fully support these claims.
- Those that are allergic to bees and honey should stay clear of royal jelly. People who are allergic to bees and honey could suffer severe allergic symptoms such as bronchial spasms, asthma attacks, anaphylactic shock, and death.
- Those suffering from breast cancer or who have a history of cancer should avoid royal jelly as they may stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.
- Those taking blood thinners should avoid taking royal jelly as it may increase the effect of the medication.
- Consuming royal jelly may cause some side effects as weight gain, skin irritation and rash, and gastrointestinal upset.
- Royal Jelly is not suitable for pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, and children.
- People suffering from compromised immune systems should avoid consuming royal jelly.
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