Royal jelly

Royal jelly is a bee secretion that aids in the development of immature or young bees. It is secreted from the hypopharyngeal glands in the heads of young workers and used (amongst other substances) to feed all of the young in the colony. If a queen is desired, the hatchling will receive only royal jelly and in large quantities as its food source for the first four days of its growth, and this rapid, early feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay more eggs for the hive.


Cultivation

Royal jelly is produced by stimulating colonies with movable frame hives to produce queen bees. Royal jelly is collected from each individual queen cell when the larva is about four days old.

A well-managed hive during a season of 5-6 months can produce approximately 500g of royal jelly. Since the product is perishable, producers must have immediate access to proper cold storage (e.g., a household refrigerator or freezer) in which the royal jelly is stored until it is sold or conveyed to a collection centre.

This product is combined with honey for preservation, as it spoils easily.


Uses, Composition

People collect and sell royal jelly as a dietary supplement, claiming various health benefits because of components like B-complex vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine); it can also be found in various beauty products. The overall composition of royal jelly is 67% water, 12.5% crude protein (including small amounts of many different amino acids), and 11% simple sugars, also including a relatively high amount (5%) of fatty acids. It also contains many trace minerals, some enzymes, antibacterial and antibiotic components, and trace amounts of vitamin C[1]. Contrary to claims by many of those promoting its use, vitamins A, D and E are completely absent from royal jelly [1]. Independent research has already disproved, or is needed to confirm or disprove, many of the purported health claims, such as reports of hormonal activity (unknown in the bees themselves; the most abundant sterol is cholesterol, which is not itself a hormone). To date, there is only preliminary evidence that it may have some cholesterol-lowering effects, as well as immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing and antibiotic effects, though the last three of these effects are unlikely to be realized if ingested (digestion of the subtances involved, or neutralization via changes in pH).[2]


Other meanings of royal jelly

Literature
The short story Royal Jelly by Roald Dahl was published in the February 1983 issue of The Twilight Zone Magazine. This also became a Tale of the Unexpected.


Science Fiction
In the extended Alien universe, Royal Jelly is a highly addictive substance secreted by a queen Xenomorph and highly coveted by the Weyland-Yutani corporation, who use it to produce performance enhancing drugs.


Video games
The computer game NetHack features royal jelly, which can be found littering the ground of bee hive rooms (which, obviously, contains large amounts of bees and queen bees). Eating some exercises your strength score.

In reference to this, the game Kingdom of Loathing also features royal jelly as a food in the area parodying NetHack, the Enormous Greater-Than Sign. Eating this royal jelly increases your Muscle.

Also, the video game Ragnarok Online uses royal jelly as a superior way of healing both health points and for curing all abnormal status'. It is dropped by Vitata's (and many other creatures) which are found in Ant Hell (an underground insect colony, and a play on words for "ant hill")