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Royal Jelly Essay

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The use of Royal Jelly as a nutritional supplement has only recently gained attention. This thick, milky material is produced by worker bees that combine honey and bee pollen with enzymes in the glands of their throat to create a substance primarily for the queen bee to feed off of (Murray, Pizzorno, & Pizzorno, 2005, p. 649). Royal Jelly is a mixture of various proteins, essential amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, sterols, and vitamins and minerals. (O’Connell, 2005, p. 24). It is the sole food of young larvae for the first 2-3 days of maturation, but the queen bee will continue to consume it throughout the period of her life (Pavel et al., 2011, p. 108). Royal Jelly is directly fed to the queen or larvae as it is secreted, and because it is not typically stored, it has not been a traditional beekeeping product (Krell, 1996, Section 6.1). …show more content…

The therapeutic effects of honey have long been practiced, but it wasn’t until recently that scientists began to explore whether or not the same healing properties are inherent in Royal Jelly alone. This substance contains 10-hydroxydecanoic acid, which has proven to possess antibiotic activity in in vitro studies containing E coli, Salmonella, Proteus Bacillus subtilis, and Staph (Krell, 1996, Section 6.4.3). Further research on humans is still required to make formal conclusions on its immune-aiding defense. Lastly, Royal Jelly is believed to help reduce cholesterol in those with elevated levels. According to a double-blind study that utilized oral royal jelly in humans, cholesterol levels were decreased in about 14% of patients with moderate to severe hypercholesterolemia (Murray, Pizzorno, & Pizzorno, 2005, p. 654). In another study, rabbits were fed a diet that induced high levels of blood cholesterol. After treatment with oral jelly, elevated cholesterol levels were reduced (Krell, 1996, Section

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