Royal Jelly
Royal Jelly is a name given to a honey bee secretion which is used to feed and provide nutrition to the larvae of the bees. This jelly is also served to the adult queens. The jelly, which is synthesized inside the body of the bees and secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands located in the heads of the worker bees, are used in raising the larvae and giving them enough nutrition to grow.
As a tradition, when the queen of the colony is old or dead, the worker bees select several small larvae and place them in the special queen chambers where they are fed exclusively on copious amounts of royal jelly. The large amounts of jelly given to the larvae allow them to grow quickly and the colony gets a new, fully developed queen rather quickly. There are many therapeutic benefits of royal jelly. The jelly is known to have therapeutic effects to those suffering from Graves’ disease. Additional researches have reported that royal jelly also helps in stimulating neural stem cells and glial cells in the brain. There are many other specific royal jelly benefits. Royal jelly has wound healing and antibiotic effects. The jelly is anti inflammatory and can help lower cholesterol in the blood.
It is believed that regular consumption of royal jelly can help improve the quality of sperm in males and increase the quantity of eggs in females, thus boosting fertility in both. There are compounds in the jelly which are believed to inhibit the vascularization of tumors. However, there is not much scientific data to back these claims. There are other researches, still in their nascent stage, that are trying to examine the benefits of royal jelly in many other diseases. The jelly is also used in cosmetic products and beauty creams. Though fresh royal jelly is largely considered therapeutic, there are many side effects too. Some of the Royal jelly side effects include intense allergic symptoms. These symptoms range from the formation of hives on the skin to asthma and in extremely severe cases, anaphylaxis, which is fatal. Though the incidences of experiencing these side effects are relatively unknown, scientists have not completely eliminated the possibility of royal jelly to be able to trigger harmful effects on the human body. However, it has been suggested by clinical trials that those who already suffer from known allergies, are more prone to get allergic reactions from royal jelly.
