Royal Jelly – The Miracle Substance
prepared by Taylor Oglesby
This is a new item we can’t stop gushing over! Partly due to the fact that royal jelly has an extensive resume, and for good reason! We all agree that anything a bee makes is beautiful and worth a second look, and royal jelly is no different.
Here is a run through of why you should love royal jelly too. To get the basics look to the big bolded areas or words. For further detail, continue reading below each bolded section.
Also referred to as Bee Milk, Royal Jelly is a secretion from the top of nurse bees’ heads. A viscous, milky, white substance that serves as a bed for larvae cells as well as food.
Nurse bees tend after baby bees, feeding the babies bee milk in order to promote life development. The large queen bee, mothers about a quarter-million bees and can even live up to four or five years! Comparatively, the rest of the hive’s females, or worker bees, are distinctly smaller in size, cannot bear children, and live about 3 months or less. This difference highlights the life enhancement affect delivered by royal jelly.
The mosaic of 48 live nutrients comprising royal jelly includes the entire B-complex, crucial minerals, 18 amino acids including the 8 essential for protein development (therefore a complete protein source), hormones, enzymes, lipids and sugars. These specific vital factors are biocatalysts for the happenings in the body that make life possible. All are quite bio-available, so your body’s able to use royal jelly easily and effectively!
More than the sum of it’s parts, Royal Jelly is considered an adaptogen. Not only will you receive the benefit of each B-vitamin but the combination of these all together, as well as other constituents found in royal jelly, attributes to a synergetic and systematic action. An adaptogen is a natural substance that helps the body adapt to stressors, exerting a normalizing effect upon your body and brain. Adaptogens also increase non-specific resistance of an organism to adverse influences.
Royal jelly gently coaches the brain and body, reminding them how to live, and even thrive. It aids your body in returning to a more balanced state. For example, if your blood pressure or cholesterol is low or high royal jelly can regulate from either side.
Especially notable for human consumption, royal jelly contains each B-vitamin. B-vitamins are essentially life vitamins due to the processes in the brain and body they support. These processes range from cognitive function, to mood stabilization, to energy production. They help you stay mentally sharp and improve bone development and strength. Overall thoroughly nourishing and revitalizing to the nervous system, brain and beyond!
B-vitamin names you may recognize:
- Pantothenic Acid (B5)
- Folic Acid (B9)
- Biotin (B7)
- Thiamin (B1)
- Riboflavin (B2)
- Niacin (B3)
- Cobalamin (B12)
- Pyridoxine (B6)
The minerals iron, calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, silicon, and sulphur are present.
Another compound delivered is Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter directly related to the quality of memory, thought, concentration, and focus. It almost acts as a sort of lubricant at nerve cell junctions and is a component of the autonomic system in the body. Its presence is related to a specific pathway in the brain, that upon degradation, can lead to Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders.
So why should I take Royal Jelly? What can it do for humans exactly? It’s a full body and brain aid, overall improving quality of life!
Due to the adaptogenic effect of royal jelly the benefits are numerous. Below lists what can be considered exceptionally notable.
- Anti-aging and cell regenerating powers (i.e. a boost to bone and muscle development, growth, and strengthening; help with the healing and consolidation of fractures; slowing and reversing of the again process)
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-bacterial
- Anti-fungal
- Anti-biotic
- Rich in anti-oxidants and free amino acids
- Mild vasodilator (increasing circulation)
- Optimizes hormonal and enzymatic processes
- Helps regulate blood pressure and cholesterol
- Promote sexual rejuvenation
- Potentially cancer preventative from various angles
- Aids in neurological function (i.e. helping with fatigue, insomnia, exhaustion, anxiety states, memory loss, stimulating and regenerating the nervous system)
- Has been shown to help with digestive disorders, cardiovascular and circulatory ailments, liver protection, liver diseases, pancreatitis, arthritis, kidney diseases, stomach ulcers, ovarian insufficiency and male impotence, and skin disorders
- Can help bolster the immune system
- Potentiate nutrient absorption (at least in children and infants)
If you’re interested in taking it, but worried about the baby and queen bees, don’t fret! The protocol for extraction aims to do as little harm as possible, same as with extracting honey.
As with anything in life, moderation is ideal for this situation. Royal jelly is considered at its most viable for only 48 hours and during the period of queen rearing in a hive. Larvae intended to be queens after the initial feeding period for all baby bees are provided with an over-abundance of royal jelly. There’s no way for all the royal jelly supplied to be consumed and it will collect within the queen cells. Not all will survive as there can only be one queen, so cells holding those not lucky enough to ascend into royalty provide us with the royal jelly we partake in. A syringe is used when extracting from the frames, so it is quite the delicate process to avoid upsetting the hive, even after removing bees from the frame.
As long as it’s shelf stable in honey, etc. or refrigerated you’ve got some time to work on your Royal Jelly intake!
Royal jelly will be at its highest potency for approximately a year after exposure to air and light post-storage. Up until this point, if kept refrigerated it will be viable 8-9 months before exposure to air and light. If kept frozen you have approximately five years. These time lengths are increased when royal jelly is made more shelf stable by being set in honey, or by being freeze dried.