Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Changes in composition of royal jelly harvested at different times: consequences for quality standards

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Apidologie Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Most of the studies on royal jelly (RJ) composition or properties as well as quality standards of commercially available royal jelly are based on RJ harvested three days (72 h) after grafting. In China, some beekeepers produce RJ harvested one (24 h) or two (48 h) days after grafting. There is a lack of knowledge about the quality of the royal jelly harvested earlier than 72 h. This study compared 32 colonies for their chemical compositions of RJ harvested at 24, 48 and 72 h after grafting, according to the proportion of moisture, protein, 10-HDA, total sugar and the value of acidity and superoxide dismutase activity. The analysis of RJ samples revealed that the composition varied significantly (for both fresh and dehydrated samples) and on some occasions above and below the range of present Chinese and Swiss standards. The results suggest that harvesting time should be considered when defining new quality standards of RJ.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bloodworth B.C., Harn C.S., Hock C.T., Boon Y.O. (1995) Liquid chromatographic determination of trans-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid content of commercial products containing Royal Jelly, J. AOAC Int. 78, 1019–1023.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blum M., Novak A., Taber S. (1959) 10-Hydroxy-Δ2-DecenoicA cid, an Antibiotic Found in Royal Jelly, Science 130, 452–453.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brouwers E. (1984) Glucose/fructose ratio in the food of honeybee larvae during caste differentiation, J. Apic. Res. 23, 94–101.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brouwers E., Ebert R., Beetsma J. (1987) Behavioural and physiological aspects of nurse bees in relation to the composition of larval food during caste differentiation in the honeybee, J. Apic. Res. 26, 11–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen C., Chen S. (1995) Changes in protein components and storage stability of royal jelly under various conditions, Food Chem. 54, 195–200.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S., Liu F., Han S., Liu F. (1992) The relationship between the age of larvae grafted and the production of royal jelly, Apic. China 43, 2–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen S.L., Su S.K., Lin X.Z. (2002) An introduction to high-yielding royal jelly production methods in China, Bee World 83, 69–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontana R., Mendes M.A., de Souza B.M., Konno K., César L.M.M., Malaspina O., Palma M.S. (2004) Jelleines: a family of antimicrobial peptides from the Royal Jelly of honeybees (Apis mellifera), Peptides 25, 919–928.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fujii A., Kobayashi S., Kuboyama N., Furukawa Y., Kaneko Y., Ishihara S., Yamamoto H., Tamura T. (1990) Augmentation of wound healing by royal jelly in streptozotocin-diabetic rats, Jpn J. Pharmacol. 53, 331–337.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • General Administation of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (2002) The quality standard of royal jelly.

  • Guo H., Kouzuma Y., Yonekura M. (2009) Structures and properties of antioxidative peptides derived from royal jelly protein, Food Chem. 113, 238–245.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Howe S.R., Dimick P.S., Benton A.W. (1985) Composition of freshly harvested and commercial royal jelly, J. Apic. Res. 24, 52–61.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamakura M., Mitani N., Fukuda T., Fukushima M. (2001) Antifatigue effect of fresh royal Jelly in mice, J. Nutr. Sci. Vitaminol. 47, 394–401.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kataoka M., Arai N., Taniguchi Y., Kohno K., Iwaki K., Ikeda M., Kurimoto M. (2001) Analysis of anti-allergic function of royal jelly, Nat. Med. 55, 174–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimura Y., Washino N., Yonekura M. (1995) N-linked sugar chains of 350-kDa royal jelly glycoprotein, Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 59, 507–509.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kucharski R., Maleszka J., Maleszka R. (2008) Nutritional control of reproductive status in honeybees via DNA methylation, Science 319, 1827–1830.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lercker G., Caboni M., Vecchi M., Sabatini A., Nanetti A., Piana L. (1985) Composizione della frazione glucidica della gelatina reale e della gelatina delle api operaie in relazione all’età larvale, Apicoltura 8, 27–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lercker G., Capella P., Conte L.S., Ruini F., Giordani G. (1981) Components of royal jelly. I. Identification of organic acids, Lipids 16, 912–919.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lercker G., Capella P., Conte L.S., Ruini F., Giordani G. (1982) Components of royal jelly: II. The lipid fraction, hydrocarbons and sterolds, J. Apic. Res. 21, 178–184.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lercker G., Vecchi M.A., Piana L., Sabatini A.G., Nanetti A. (1984) Composition de la fraction lipidique de la gelée de larves d’abeilles reines et ouvrières (Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola) en fonction de l’age des larves, Apidologie 15, 303–314.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J.R., Yang Y.C., Shi L.S., Peng C.C. (2008) Antioxidant properties of royal jelly associated with larval age and time of harvest, J. Agric. Food Chem. 56, 11447–11452.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matsui T., Yukiyoshi A., Doi S., Sugimoto H., Yamada H., Matsumoto K. (2002) Gastrointestinal enzyme production of bioactive peptides from royal jelly protein and their antihypertensive ability in SHR, J. Nutr. Biochem. 13, 80–86.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Messia M., Caboni M., Marconi E. (2005) Storage stability assessment of freeze-dried royal jelly by furosine determination, J. Agric. Food Chem. 53, 4440–4443.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Min L., Li J., Liu K., Jiang Y., Liu X., Liu X. (2004) Isolation, purification and characterization of superoxide dismutase from royal jelly of the Italian worker bee, Apis mellifera, Acta Entomol. Sinica 47, 171–177.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitsui T., Sagawa T., Sano H. (1964) Studies on rearing honey bee larvae in the laboratory. I. The effect of royal jelly taken from different ages of queen cells on queen differentiation, J. Econ. Entomol. 57, 518–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moritz R., Lattorff H., Neumann P., Kraus F., Radloff S., Hepburn H. (2005) Rare royal families in honeybees, Apis mellifera, Naturwissenschaften 92, 488–491.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto I., Taniguchi Y., Kunikata T., Kohno K., Iwaki K., Ikeda M., Kurimoto M. (2003) Major royal jelly protein 3 modulates immune responses in vitro and in vivo, Life Sci. 73, 2029–2045.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sabatini A.G., Marcazzan G., Caboni M.F., Bogdanov S., Almeida-Muradian L.B. (2009) Quality and standardisation of Royal Jelly, J. Apiprod. Apimed. Sci. 1, 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schweizerisches Lebensmittelbuch (2003) Methoden für die Untersuchung und Beurteilung von Lebensmitteln und Gebrauchsgegeständen, Gelée Royale, Chap. 23C.

  • Shen J. (1991) Comparison of the effects of producing royal jelly in various cycle, Apic. China 42, 2–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang C., Yuan Y. (1999) Effect of temperatue on the activity of Superoxide dismutase in royal jelly, Apic. China 50, 10–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townsend G.F., Morgan J.F., Tolnai S., Hazlett B., Morton H.J., Shuel R.W. (1960) Studies on the in vitro antitumor activity of fatty acids: I. 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid from royal jelly, Cancer Res. 20, 503–510.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y., Jiang Y., Niu J. (1996) Determination of Superoxide dismutase activity in royal jelly, J. Shanxi Agric. Univ. 16, 267–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zou G., Gui X., Zhong X., Zhu Y. (1986) Improvements in pyrogallol autoxidation method for the determination of SOD activity, Prog. Biochem. Biophys. 4, 71–73.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310029, China

    H. -Q. Zheng & F. -L. Hu

  2. Swiss Bee Research Centre, Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux Research Station ALP, 3003, Bern, Switzerland

    V. Dietemann

Authors
  1. H. -Q. Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. -L. Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. V. Dietemann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. -L. Hu.

Additional information

Manuscript editor: Stan Schneider

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zheng, H.Q., Hu, F.L. & Dietemann, V. Changes in composition of royal jelly harvested at different times: consequences for quality standards. Apidologie 42, 39–47 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010033

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010033

Keywords

Search

Navigation