What are the health benefits of Royal Jelly? Royal Jelly is extremely nutrient dense.  It contains at least 20 amino acids, 8 of which are essential and 5
unidentified related compounds. Studies have shown that royal jelly may provide health benefits on various conditions such as arthritis, cancer, skin
conditions, high blood pressure, infection, inflammation, allergy, fatique and microbial effects.
Benfits of Royal Jelly
Benefits and side effects - research finds updated on June 23 2009
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Introduction

Royal Jelly is the milky-white gelatinous substance secreted from the cephalic
glands of the worker bees for the growth and of the queen bee. Without royal
jelly, the queen bee would be no different from the worker bees including its
life span. Chemically, royal jelly is a water-based emulsion of proteins, sugars,
lipids and some other ingredients. Some components of royal jelly have been
found to against certain types of bacteria. While the sugar composition of
royal jelly is very similar to those found in honey-fructose and glucose.

Royal jelly is commonly formulated into capsules, chewable tablets, elixir and
liquid. [15A] There are two common types of royal jelly preparations – fresh
and freeze-dried. Some manufacturers sell fresh royal jelly directly to the
consumers, such that the consumers do not need to worry how long the
products of royal jelly have been sitting on the shelf. Usually, the price for
fresh royal jelly is much more expensive than those you can find at discount
stores. Royal jelly is also widely freeze-dried into powder and then packed
into capsules.

Scientific evidence for the health benefits of royal jelly

Antioxidative Activities
The time of harvest and the initial larval age affects the antioxidant potencies
of royal jelly. Royal jelly collected 24 h after the larval transfer showed the
most substantial antioxidant activities. [S7]

Recently, researchers have reported the potential health benefits and side
effects of royal jelly based on in-vitro, animal and human studies.

Promotion of Neurogenesis / Neural Protection
Royal jelly and its10-hydroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid were found to be able to
increase the generation of neurons and decrease that of astrocytes from
neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs). [20A]

Orally administered royal jelly was found to increase the number of
hippocampal dentate gyrus granule cells and simultaneously improve the
cognitive impairment in trimethyltin-intoxicated mice. Trimethyltin is a toxic
organotin compound that induces acute neuronal death selectively in the
hippocampal dentate gyrus. [S3]

In a study of middle-aged female rats, several animals showed age-related
increases in pituitary weight, while intake of royal jelly compensated the
increase. Royal jelly down-regulated prolactin mRNA and up-regulated thyroid-
stimulating hormone beta mRNA in the pituitary. [S5]

Diabetes / Insulin Resistance in Rats
It has been suggested that royal jelly could be an effective functional food to
prevent insulin resistance associated with the development of hypertension in
fructose-drinking rats. In the study, male Wistar rats received 15% fructose
solution for eight weeks, they then had high levels of insulin and triglyceride.
Royal jelly treatment resulted in a significant reduction in sympathetic nerve-
mediated vasoconstrictor response to periarterial nerve stimulation and
tended to increase the calcitonin gene-related peptide nerve-mediated
vasodilator response to periarterial nerve stimulation. [1A] They also reported
that treatment of royal jelly could decrease systolic blood pressure in a type 2
diabetic rats. [5A]

Male Wistar rats (6 weeks old) received 15% fructose solution in drinking
water for 8 weeks. Fructose-drinking rats showed significant increases in
plasma levels of insulin and triglyceride. Treatment of royal jelly for 8 weeks
significantly decreases the plasma levels of insulin and triglyceride and
systolic blood pressure as well, without affecting blood glucose or total
cholesterol levels. Thus, royal jelly may benefit animals at risk of developing
insulin resistance. [S8]

Liver Protection
In a study of 90 female Swiss Albino mice, paracetamol altered the levels of
liver enzymes while administration of royal jelly restored the levels to normal
values. [3A] Thus, royal jelly may benefit animals suffered from liver damage.

Lipid Profiles
The cholesterol-lowering effect of royal jelly is likely related to the regulation
of squalene epoxidase and low-density lipoprotein receptor. Kamakura M and
co-workers from Toyama Prefectural University, Japan, reported royal jelly
was able to hinder the gene expression of squalene epoxidase (SQLE). SQLE
is a key enzyme in cholesterolbiosynthesis, and sterol regulatory element-
binding protein (SREB)-1, which may be a transcriptional factor of SQLE. In
addition, royal jelly tends to increase gene expression of low-density
lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which is involved in cholesterol incorporation in
liver. [6A] In Japan, Guo H and co-workers at Nippon Meat Packers, Inc
demonstrated that intake of 6 gram of royal jelly supplement for 4 weeks
decreased the total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein significantly in
seven human volunteers. [4A]

Skin Dermatitis
Royal jelly showed skin protection in a cell study and it may alleviate atopic
dermatitis. It has been known that royal Jelly promotes collagen production by
skin fibroblasts in the presence of ascorbic acid-2-O-alpha-glucoside. Fujisaki
et al further found that purified royal jelly was similar to those of 10-hydroxy-2-
decenoic acid, which can induce the fibroblast cells to produce transforming
growth factor-beta 1. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 is an important factor
for collagen production. [8A] It is able to inhibit the production of IL-4, IL-5, IL-
10 and antigen-specific interferon-gamma in spleen cells of ovalbumin(OVA)
/Alum-immunized mice. It is also known that both Th1 and Th2 cytokines play
pathogenic roles in the development of atopic dermatitis. Fujisaki et al found
that Royal Jelly suppresses the development of the lesions, possibly by a
combination of down-regulating TNP-specific IFN-gamma production and up-
regulating iNOS expression. [16A]

High Blood Pressure
Royal jelly may have benefits of blood pressure lowering effects. Protease N
treated royal Jelly and its peptides can inhibit angiotensin I-converting enzyme
(ACE) activity and they can lower the blood pressure in repeated oral doses
on spontaneously hypertensive rates. The antihypertensive effect of the
peptide mixture could be as high as 38%. [9A]

A dipeptide YY derived from royal jelly proteins is known to inhibit angiotensin
converting enzyme (ACE) activity and the human renin activity at physiological
pH. The renin activity was expressed at a wide pH range with two peaks
around at 6.0 and 8.0. The dipeptide YY was found to inhibit the renin activity
only at the acidic pH range lower than
8.0. [S4]

Renin is the rate limiting enzyme in the renin-angiotensin system that
regulates blood pressure and electrolyte balance. In a study of spontaneously
hypertensive rats, researchers from Gifu University, Japan, found that a royal
jelly-derived peptide has inhibitory effect on rennin and thus blood pressure
lowering activities. [B2]

Researchers demonstrated the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)
inhibitory and blood pressure lowering effect of peptide fractions of royal jelly
protein hydrolysate in spontaneously hypertensive rats. [S2]

Inflammation
Kohno has examined Royal Jelly's anti-inflammatory actions at cytokine level
using cultures of mouse peritoneal macrophages. They found that Royal Jelly
hasanti-inflammatory actions through inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine
production by activated macrophages. [10A]

Cancer / DNA Protection
Binclletto C. et al found royal jelly was able to produce effect on
haematopoiesis of Ehrlich ascites tumor-bearing mice. Thus, royal jelly
prevented the myelosupression in mice. [12A] Inoue et al studied the effect of
dietary Royal Jelly on tissue DNA oxidative damage and on the life span of
C3H/HeJ mice. They found that the levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (a
marker of oxidative stress) was significantly reduced if the mice were fed with
Royal Jelly for 16 weeks. The dietary Royal Jelly also increased the average
life span of C3H/HeJ mice through the mechanism of reduced oxidative
damage. [11A]

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is reported to be a potent pro-
angiogenic factor that plays a pivotal role in both physiological and
pathological angiogenesis. 10-Hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10HDA), a major
fatty acid component of royal jelly, has been found to have anti-tumor
activities.  10HDA actually exerts an inhibitory effect on VEGF-induced
angiogenesis, partly by inhibiting both cell proliferation and migration.

Nakaya M and co-workers at Kyushu University, Japan, demonstrated the anti-
environmental estrogen activity of royal jelly. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an
environmental estrogen that stimulates proliferation of human breast cancer
MCF-7 cells. Royal jelly inhibited the growth-promoting effect of BPA on MCF-
7 cells, even though it did not affect the proliferation of cells in the absence of
BPA. [7A]

Fatigue
Kamakura et al forced mice to swim in an adjustable-current swimming pool.
They found that mice fed with a 5 7-kDa protein extracted from Royal Jelly
showed significantly decreased accumulation of serum lactate and serum
ammonia. This suggests that Royal Jelly can ameliorate the physical fatigue
after exercise. [17A]

Antibacterial effects
Fontana R. et al at Brazil identified four peptides possessing anti-microbial
properties-Jelleine-I, Jelleine-II, Jelleine-III and Jelleine-IV from royal jelly.
[18A] Fujiwara et al found a potent protein against Gram-positive bacteria in
royal jelly. The primary structure of that protein has 51 residues with three
intramolecular disulfide linkages. [19A]

It was found that when combined with royal jelly, honey showed a greater than
activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. [S6]

A study of 60 patients suffered from limb-threatening diabetic foot infection
suggests that an ointment of royal jelly and panthenol may benefit people with
full-thickness skin ulcer or deep tissue infection. [B1]

Anti-allergic effects
Okamoto's research group has shown that Royal Jelly has potent exhibit anti-
allergic properties in a mouse model of immediate hypersensivity. In a futher
study, they found that a 70 KDa glycoprotein, ie. the major Royal Jelly Protein
3 (MRJP3), could suppress IL-4, IL-2 and IFN-gamma production. [13A] On
the other hand, it can induce serious anaphylaxis. (See the section of side
effects)

Side Effects of Royal Jelly
A 26-year-old Japanese woman developed anaphylaxis after drinking a
beverage of crude royal jelly including honey. She had a history of bronchial
asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis and food
allergy (abalone). [19A]

Royal jelly appears to be safe to bees and human. However, there are 9
reports about its side-effects related to asthma or anaphylaxis, but all
happened before 1999. The adverse reactions in these cases include
urticaria, eczema, rhinitis and acute asthma. [1-10] There is a also report of a
53 year old woman with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea (haemorrhagic
colitis) associated with royal jelly intake. [14A]

Royal jelly from honeybees (Apis mellifera) was shown to have a weak
estrogenic activity mediated by interaction with estrogen receptors that leads
to changes in gene expression and cell proliferation. [S9] More studies are
needed to clarify how this activity affects our health ---- a side effect or
benefit?

Reference:
1. Harwood M et al, Asthma following royal jelly, NZ Med J 1996 Aug 23; 109(1028):325.2.
Laporte JR et al, Bronchospasm induced by royal jelly, Allergy 1996 Jun; 51(6):440.3.
Thien FC et al, Asthma and anaphylaxis induced by royal jelly, Clin Exp Allergy. 1996 Feb;
26(2):216-22.4. Peacock S. Respiratory distress and royal jelly, BMJ 1995 Dec. 2;311
(7018):1472.5. Leung R et al, Royal jelly-induced asthma and anaphylaxis: clinical
characteristics and immunologic correlations. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 1995 Dec;96)6Pt1)
1004-7.6. Roger A et al, Anaphylaxis caused by royal jelly, Allergol Immunopathol (Madr).
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1994 Jan 3, 160(1)44.6. Thien FC et al, Royal Jelly induced asthma, Med J Aust. 1993 Nov
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Jin X, Takai-Doi S, Kawasaki H. Royal jelly ameliorates insulin resistance in fructose-
drinking rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 2008 Nov;31(11):2103-7. [S9] Suzuki KM, Isohama Y,
Maruyama H, Yamada Y, Narita Y, Ohta S, Araki Y, Miyata T, Mishima S. Estrogenic
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