Royal Jelly and Reproductive Health

Royal jelly is a valuable bee product that is secreted by worker bees to feed baby bees and the queen bee in the hive. Being fed only with royal jelly, queen bee grows 2 times bigger and lives 30 times longer than the other bees. 10-HDA (10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid) and royalactin are two unique compounds found only in royal jelly and have been reported to have many functional properties.

Royal jelly was investigated in clinically healthy postmenopausal women as a safe and long-term natural approach to the management of menopause transition, which is associated with chronic conditions such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. A total of 39 participants received 150 mg of RJ daily for three months were tested for circulating cardiovascular risk markers and bone turnover parameters. The results demonstrated that royal jelly treatment resulted in a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein – cholesterol and a significant decrease in low-density lipoprotein - cholesterol and total cholesterol. No statistically significant changes were found in the bone turnover parameters. The authors suggested royal jelly may offer an alternative method of controlling the postmenopause dyslipidemia.

Lambrinoudaki I., Augoulea A., Rizos D., Politi M., Tsoltos N., Moros M., Chinou I., Graikou K., Kouskouni E., Kambani S., Panoulis K., Moutsatsou P. Greek-origin royal jelly improves the lipid profile of postmenopausal women. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2016 Oct;32(10):835-839.