Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae, the creation of a new queen

bee and the food for the adult queen bee throughout her life. Royal jelly is secreted from the glands in

the hypopharynx in the worker bees’ head. Royal jelly is fed to all larvae in the colony regardless of

sex or caste during the first three days of life.

When worker bees sense the need for a replacement queen they choose several one, two or three day

old larvae and feed them large amounts of royal jelly in specially constructed queen cells. Feeding

larvae royal jelly beyond day three leads to queen morphology. Queen morphology includes the

development of egg laying ovaries.

Royal jelly is creamy in appearance and consistency with a strong astringent/acidy and very mildly

venomous flavour. Its quality is reasonably consistent and is influenced by the pollen diet and the

general health of the secreting bees. The quantity of royal jelly produced per queen cell varies

considerably based on the number of young nurse bees and the amount of food available. Abundant

pollen and nectar will maximise royal jelly production. Royal jelly typically consists of water (67%),

crude protein including many different types of amino acids (12.5%), simple sugars (11%) and fatty

acids (5%). Royal jelly also contains trace elements, some enzymes, antibacterial and antibiotic

components, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and trace amounts of vitamin C

(Blackiston 2009).

Royal jelly is only collected by humans from queen cells where it is deposited in larger volumes and in

advance of larvae consumption. Well managed hives are able to produce up to 7kg of royal jelly pa

and production is over a 5-6 month spring and summer period.

The small amount of production and high requirement for labour for grafting queen cells and manually

extracting royal jelly means that the resultant product is expensive to produce.

Human consumption

Royal jelly is collected and sold as a human nutrition supplement and ingredient in cosmetic

preparations. Benefits claimed by marketers of royal jelly include improved health, increased body

mass, enhanced fertility and additional longevity. Cosmetics containing royal jelly are said to have

anti-aging qualities. In many countries, royal jelly has been promoted as a commercially available

medicine, health food, and cosmetic (as an emollient, moisturiser, and nourishing substance). It is used

in traditional medicine for longevity in Europe and Asia. Royal jelly has been sold as a skin tonic and

hair growth stimulant.