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18.10.2011

Animal study: Royal Jelly has life extending properties

Royal Jelly boosts testosterone levels, and this happens partly through an anti-aging mechanism in the pituitary, we wrote a few months ago. As chance would have it, in 2011 PLoS published the findings of a Japanese study on the life-extending effects of Royal Jelly. Ok, only in nematodes - but you've got to start somewhere.

Royal Jelly
Scientists have been studying the health benefits of Royal Jelly for several decades, and the results are encouraging. That these results have not reached the ears of the general public is because researchers don't know exactly which substances are responsible for the beneficial effects. And without this knowledge you are at a disadvantage as a scientist.

But it's not the fault of the researchers: the composition of Royal Jelly is complex. Analyses have shown that Royal Jelly contains at least the following components: proteins, peptides, free amino acids, sugars, vitamins, acetylcholine and other interesting compounds including AMP-N1-oxide and the fatty acid 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid [10-HAD], of which the structural formulas are shown below.

Study
The Japanese exposed tiny roundworms, or nematodes [Latin name Caenorhabditis elegans], to three different concentrations of Royal Jelly in the lab. The preparation they studied came from bees that had made their honey from pollen they had collected from rapeseed fields.

Results
The researchers discovered that their nematodes lived for about 8 percent longer when their food substrate consisted of 10 microgram/ml Royal Jelly. Higher and lower concentrations had no effect.

Then the researchers tested their preparations again, but after they had treated them with protein-splitting enzymes. The Royal Jelly still worked, which means that the life-extending substances were not proteins or peptides. So was it a fatty acid that was responsible? Maybe the 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid? Royal Jelly consists of 1.7 percent 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid, so that might be the case.

The Japanese repeated their experiment using this compound. And lo and behold.

The researchers tried to measure genes and introduce mutants in order to unravel the mechanism through which Royal Jelly works, but did not obtain conclusive evidence.

Conclusion
"The further identification and characterization of the longevity-promoting compounds contained in RJ may lead to the development of nutraceutical interventions in the aging process", they conclude in their article.

Source:
PLoS One. 2011; 6(8): e23527.

More:
Royal Jelly rejuvenates pituitary: animal study 02.04.2011