By Denise Renée Purdie
I really wanted this blog post to be called “the royal treatment or droning on,” but it seemed a bit long. Gosh, now I’m thinking “the not-so-secret life of bees” would be fun too!
In any case, as I was just talking about the topic of bees with my Dad the other day, it really peaked my interest. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t really see a lot of bees around which is very troubling. Worldwide populations are purportedly decreasing and since the following article indicates they are responsible for 80% of pollination and one third of the food supply (Jones, 2017), that is definitely a worry. (We’ll talk about plankton a little bit later … let’s stick to one potentially world-destroying issue at a time!!!)
What I found interesting about the article was the difference in longevity between the worker bees and the queen. They start as genetically identical, but although the worker bees gather / create the royal jelly, they don't eat it. However, the queens do and they live significantly longer. This is definitely a specific empirical support that what you eat can radically affect your longevity.
There are apparently some health benefits to humans associated with ingesting royal jelly although further research is needed. (Morita, 2012) indicated, “Six-month ingestion of RJ in humans improved erythropoiesis, glucose tolerance and mental health. Acceleration of conversion from DHEA-S to T by RJ may have been observed among these favorable effects.” And if you don’t know what erythropoiesis is, you are not alone. I looked it up and apparently it “is your body's process of making red blood cells (erythrocytes). Erythropoiesis ensures you have the right number of blood cells — not too few or too many.”
Another article, from Helpline (2018), was even more enthusiastic. It includes 12 potential health benefits:
contains a variety of nutrients
may provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects
may reduce heart disease risk by impacting cholesterol levels
may aid wound healing and skin repair
specific proteins may lower blood pressure
regulates blood sugar by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation
antioxidant properties may support healthy brain function
may increase tear secretion and treat chronic dry eyes
may provide anti-aging effects through various means
may support a healthy immune system
reduces side effects of cancer treatment
may treat certain symptoms of menopause
I remember taking bee propolis in Australia. I was a Forever Living consultant and it was recommended. I am going to be looking into obtaining some of both bee propolis and royal jelly as I work on fine-tuning my health even more. I don’t have time present to read this study fully, but it looks quite interesting in terms of potential health benefits related to bees. It is not considered to be vegan, but I’m vegetarian at the moment so I’ll risk it.
References:
Hill, A. (2018, October 3). 12 potential health benefits of royal jelly. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/royal-jelly#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7
Jones, P. (2017, February 9). Can the humble honeybee teach us how to live longer? The Stand. https://www.uow.edu.au/the-stand/2017/a-bees-life.php
Morita, H., Ikeda, T., Kajita, K. et al. Effect of royal jelly ingestion for six months on healthy volunteers. Nutrition Journal, 11 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-11-77
Keywords: bees, royal jelly, bee propolis, health benefits