Queen bees are made, not born, and their feeding with royal jelly is the key to that process. Without this special food, queen bees would fail to develop properly. Royal jelly is a thick, extremely nutritious, milky-white, creamy liquid secreted by the hypopharyngeal glands of the nurse bees. Queen bees live exclusively on royal jelly and it accounts for their incredible size and longevity. They average 42 percent larger and weigh 60 percent more than the worker bee. Amazingly, they live 40 times longer than worker bees, seven years as compared to seven weeks. In the wild, Queen bees will produce 2,000 eggs per day with each day's brood equal to 2 1/2 times her own body weight.

An Excellent Source of Nutrients

Biochemically speaking, royal jelly is very complex. It is a very rich source of proteins and contains eight essential amino acids, important fatty acids, sugars, sterols and phosphorous compounds as well as acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is needed to transmit nerve messages from cell to cell. Too little of this compound makes individuals prone to Alzheimer's disease. It contains gamma globulin, known to stimulate the immune system and fight off infections. "Royal jelly is an excellent source of nutrients and is gentle to the system," says Steve Schechter, M.D. Royal jelly contains vitamins A, B-complex, C, D and E. It is particularly useful for its B-complex contents, including B1, B2, B6, B12, biotin, folic acid, and inositol. Royal jelly is high in the B vitamin pantothenic acid, recognized for its ability to reduce stress levels. It also supplies the minerals, calcium, copper, iron, phosphorous, potassium, silicon and sulfur.

Promotes Youthfulness, Skin Beauty and more

Although royal jelly has been traditionally known to prolong youthfulness and improve the skin beauty, evidence indicates that this substance increases energy, alleviates anxiety, sleeplessness, moodiness, memory loss, and bolsters the immune system.

Researchers at Valhalla, New York, have found that royal jelly contains a complex compound that stimulates glands and normalizes the reproductive systems of both men and women and acts as a natural hormone. Other studies have shown that chickens, pigs, roosters grew larger, lived longer, and showed greater fertility and became more sexually active after being fed royal jelly.

Royal jelly is also rich in nucleic acids, RNA and DNA. Gelatin, another significant component, is one of the precursors of collagen, which is another component of royal jelly. Collagen is an anti-aging element that keeps the skin looking smooth and youthful.