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Royal Jelly Health Benefits and Side Effects

Royal jelly is a substance secreted by honey bees to feed their colony larvae and to produce strong, long-living queen bees. Although royal jelly is fed to all larvae it is only the potential queen who continues to receive the substance after the first few days of life and so making her the only fertile female. The benefits of royal jelly inside the bee colony are well documented but royal jelly is also collected by humans for use in cosmetics and for producing dietary supplements which may have significant health benefits.

What Does Royal Jelly Contain?

There is no question that royal jelly is very nutrient rich. It is rich in B complex vitamins including B5 and B6, there are trace elements of vitamin C, all of the amino acids essential to humans and many trace minerals. Additionally its composition contains anti-bacterial and anti-biotic agents.

What is Royal Jelly Good For?

Many studies have been done and continue to be done on the many positive  health benefits in ingesting royal jelly. Much of the research is still in its infancy and as yet no absolute scientific conclusions have been made but the following list itemizes all those conditions for which royal jelly may be beneficial:

• to lower cholesterol
• as an anti-inflammatory
• for healing wounds
• as an anti-biotic
• as a cancer inhibitor
• to improve fertility in both men and women
• to stimulate the growth of certain cells essential to brain protection and support

Initial results strongly suggest there may be some scientific basis for the claims listed above although as yet it is not clear whether the royal jelly health benefits are reduced or canceled by the body during the process of digestion.

Other possible health benefits of royal jelly are:

• for repairing bone damage and fracture
• liver disease
• kidney disease
• to aid in recovery from chemo-therapy and radio-therapy
• mental exhaustion
• insomnia
• stomach ulcers
• skin disorders
• memory impairment
• depression, anxiety and panic attacks
• skin blemishes
• asthma
• menopause and hormonal imbalances

These lists on what royal jelly is good for is not exhaustive and many more health benefit claims could be added.

Side Effects of Royal Jelly

Royal jelly is known to have side effects associated with its ingestion, some of which have serious medical implications. The most commonly recorded are those related to allergic reactions such as skin conditions and asthma. Most recorded cases are those where the patient already has some known allergy or sensitivity. There have been rare cases of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction which can be fatal, but again findings suggest that, where this has occurred, the patient has a known bronchial asthma condition or chronic allergy condition.

Royal jelly can be bought in liquid, capsule, pressed tablet form or as an added ingredient in honey products and is widely available through pharmacies, health food stores, mail order companies and the Internet.

Royal jelly is also commonly used in cosmetic creams for its anti-ageing, blemish reducing abilities and in medication applications for burns and wound healing.

It is highly likely that in time some, if not all, of the claims for the health benefits of royal jelly will be scientifically proven but until such time it is advisory not to use royal jelly as a substitute for medical conditions without seeking the guidance of a professional.

This article on the health benefits and side effects of royal jelly has been written by expert author ‘Deneice Arthurton’.