Royal Jelly

Figure 1. Royal Jelly surrounding queen bee larvae.

Royal Jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae and adult queens. Royal Jelly is secreted from the glands in the hypopharynx of nurse bees and fed to all larvae in the colony.

During the process of creating new queens, the workers construct special queen cells. The larvae in these cells are fed with copious amounts of Royal Jelly. This type of feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.

Royal Jelly is a milky secretion produced by worker honeybees. It typically contains about 60%-70% water, 12%-15% proteins, 10%-16% sugar, 3%-6% fats, and 2%-3% vitamins, salts, and amino acids. Vitamins in Royal Jelly include Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Pantothenic acid (B5), Pyridoxine (B6), Niacin (B3), Folic acid (B9), Inositol (B8), and Biotin (B7). Like Propolis, Royal Jelly's composition varies depending on geography and climate.

As a dietary supplement, Royal Jelly is commonly promoted as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound, to help reduce risk of heart diseases, to aid wound healing and skin repair, to help with symptoms of menopause, premenstrual syndrome, and others. However, there is insufficient scientific evidence presently to conclusively determine the effectiveness of Royal Jelly in these applications.