Royal Jelly—A Traditional and Natural Remedy for Postmenopausal Symptoms and Aging-Related Pathologies

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Women’s life stages are based on their reproductive cycle. This cycle begins with menstruation and ends with menopause. Aging is a natural phenomenon that affects all humans, and it is associated with a decrease in the overall function of the organism. In women, aging is related with and starts with menopause. Also, during menopause and postmenopausal period, the risk of various age-related diseases and complaints is higher. For this reason, researchers were pushed to find effective remedies that could promote healthy aging and extended lifespan. Apitherapy is a type of alternative medicine that uses natural products from honeybees, such as honey, propolis, royal jelly, etc. Royal jelly is a natural yellowish-white substance, secreted by both hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of nurse bees, usually used to feed the queen bees and young worker larvae. Over the centuries, this natural product was considered a gold mine for traditional and natural medicine, due to its miraculous effects. Royal jelly has been used for a long time in commercial medical products. It has been demonstrated to possess a wide range of functional properties, such as: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, vasodilatative, hypotensive, anticancer, estrogen-like, antihypercholesterolemic, and antioxidant activities. This product is usually used to supplement various diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, sexual dysfunctions, diabetes or cancer. The main objective of this study is to highlight the effectiveness of royal jelly supplementation in relieving menopause symptoms and aging-related diseases. We also aimed to review the most recent research advances regarding the composition of royal jelly for a better understanding of the effects on human health promotion.

Related collections

Most cited references 101

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Branched-chain amino acid supplementation promotes survival and supports cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis in middle-aged mice.

Giuseppe D'Antona, Maurizio Ragni, Annalisa Cardile … (2010)

Recent evidence points to a strong relationship between increased mitochondrial biogenesis and increased survival in eukaryotes. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been shown to extend chronological life span in yeast. However, the role of these amino acids in mitochondrial biogenesis and longevity in mammals is unknown. Here, we show that a BCAA-enriched mixture (BCAAem) increased the average life span of mice. BCAAem supplementation increased mitochondrial biogenesis and sirtuin 1 expression in primary cardiac and skeletal myocytes and in cardiac and skeletal muscle, but not in adipose tissue and liver of middle-aged mice, and this was accompanied by enhanced physical endurance. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) defense system genes were upregulated, and ROS production was reduced by BCAAem supplementation. All of the BCAAem-mediated effects were strongly attenuated in endothelial nitric oxide synthase null mutant mice. These data reveal an important antiaging role of BCAAs mediated by mitochondrial biogenesis in mammals. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

0 comments Cited 202 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Royalactin induces queen differentiation in honeybees.

Masaki Kamakura (2011)

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) forms two female castes: the queen and the worker. This dimorphism depends not on genetic differences, but on ingestion of royal jelly, although the mechanism through which royal jelly regulates caste differentiation has long remained unknown. Here I show that a 57-kDa protein in royal jelly, previously designated as royalactin, induces the differentiation of honeybee larvae into queens. Royalactin increased body size and ovary development and shortened developmental time in honeybees. Surprisingly, it also showed similar effects in the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster). Mechanistic studies revealed that royalactin activated p70 S6 kinase, which was responsible for the increase of body size, increased the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinase, which was involved in the decreased developmental time, and increased the titre of juvenile hormone, an essential hormone for ovary development. Knockdown of epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) expression in the fat body of honeybees and fruitflies resulted in a defect of all phenotypes induced by royalactin, showing that Egfr mediates these actions. These findings indicate that a specific factor in royal jelly, royalactin, drives queen development through an Egfr-mediated signalling pathway.

0 comments Cited 200 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Honey, Propolis, and Royal Jelly: A Comprehensive Review of Their Biological Actions and Health Benefits

Visweswara Rao Pasupuleti, Lakhsmi Sammugam, Nagesvari Ramesh … (2017)

Background There are several health benefits that honeybee products such as honey, propolis, and royal jelly claim toward various types of diseases in addition to being food. Scope and Approach In this paper, the effects of honey, propolis, and royal jelly on different metabolic diseases, cancers, and other diseases have been reviewed. The modes of actions of these products have also been illustrated for purposes of better understanding. Key Findings and Conclusions An overview of honey, propolis, and royal jelly and their biological potentials was highlighted. The potential health benefits of honey, such as microbial inhibition, wound healing, and its effects on other diseases, are described. Propolis has been reported to have various health benefits related to gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, and gynecological, oral, and dermatological problems. Royal jelly is well known for its protective effects on reproductive health, neurodegenerative disorders, wound healing, and aging. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of action of honey, propolis, and royal jelly on the abovementioned diseases and activities have not been not fully elucidated, and further research is warranted to explain their exact contributions.

0 comments Cited 192 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Nada Orsolic: Role: Academic Editor

Maja Jazvinšćak Jembrek: Role: Academic Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Molecules

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Molecules

Journal ID (publisher-id): molecules

Title: Molecules

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 1420-3049

Publication date (Electronic): 20 July 2020

Publication date Collection: July 2020

Volume: 25

Issue: 14

Electronic Location Identifier: 3291

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Faculty of Medicine, Transylvania University of Brasov, 500019 Brasov, Romania; dr.andreeabalan@ 123456gmail.com (A.B.); moga.og@ 123456gmail.com (M.A.M.); canastasiu@ 123456gmail.com (C.V.A.)

[2 ]Department of Fundamental, Prophylactic and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500019 Brasov, Romania; lorenadima@ 123456yahoo.com

Author notes

[* ]Correspondence: sebitom2002@ 123456yahoo.com (S.T.); andrea.neculau@ 123456unitbv.ro (A.E.N.); Tel.: +40-0268-412-185 (S.T. & A.E.N.)

Author information

Costin Vlad Anastasiu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3786-1061

Article

Publisher ID: molecules-25-03291

DOI: 10.3390/molecules25143291

PMC ID: 7397171

PubMed ID: 32698461

SO-VID: 99980426-6bba-4a3f-a298-96317df62798

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Royal Jelly—A Traditional and Natural Remedy for Postmenopausal Symptoms and Aging-Related Pathologies

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

ChemSpider related publications

Most cited references 101

Branched-chain amino acid supplementation promotes survival and supports cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis in middle-aged mice.

Royalactin induces queen differentiation in honeybees.

Honey, Propolis, and Royal Jelly: A Comprehensive Review of Their Biological Actions and Health Benefits

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Author information

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 416

Cited by 9

Most referenced authors 871