Royal jelly
Royal jelly, royal jelly or bee royal jelly, the jelly, with the wind the honey bees their queens.
With this mixture of the secretions of the hypopharyngeal gland and the maxillary gland of the worker bee larvae are fed during the first three larval stages. The working bee will then receive only pollen and honey. The queens larva, however, is fed until the time of capping her cell with this royal jelly.
Ingredients
Royal jelly contains, inter alia, carbohydrates, protein, B vitamins and trace elements. The main ingredients are:
Extraction
Royal jelly is produced in specialized apiaries. The majority of beekeepers in German-speaking countries engaged in beekeeping as a hobby and reaps no royal jelly, also missing most technical equipment to do so. The majority of the offered in Germany Royal Jelly comes from China and is traded at prices between 100 and 130 Euro per kilo.
To obtain a bee colony is the queen away and there are pre-made queen cells used in the hive. In order to isolate the lining material as the queen larvae must be removed after three days. In a bee season, a colony of bees can be induced to produce about 500 g of royal jelly. The removal of the queen mean for the colony a high pressure situation and a massive intervention in the balance of the people, therefore reject naturnah economic beekeepers production of royal jelly generally from.
Royal Jelly Propolis is next to use in dietary supplements and in cosmetic preparations; as a source of medicinal preparations, it has, at least in the German speaking countries are no longer important.
Health hazards
The consumption of royal jelly can, especially through his percentage of proteins and amino acids that cause allergic reactions. Thus, the occurrence of allergic reactions on the skin, facial swelling, asthma attacks or aggravation of existing asthma, vomiting, diarrhea, drop in blood pressure and, in some cases, a life-threatening anaphylactic shock was observed after ingestion of royal jelly containing products.
Importance of queen bees forage juice for larval development
For a long time it is believed that royal jelly is the reason for that is from a bee larva no worker, but a queen.
Is confirmed by a Japanese study of 2011. Way, the researchers succeeded in isolating a specific protein from the royal jelly ( Royalactin ) and thus to generate melanogaster queens -like specimens also in the fruit fly Drosophila. The weight and size of the body have changed appreciably; the fertility of the animal increased.
Australian researchers demonstrated in 2008 a negative feedback. Prevents Consisting of pollen and honey diet of worker bees that they grow up to the queen. The food turned out by temporary modifications in the genome, the so-called DNA methylation, transcription of certain genes.
The finding that the difference between queen and worker lies in the special lining, is also a cause for the great popularity of royal jelly. Sometimes it is downright praised by reference to the growth of the queen bee as a miracle cure.