Royal jelly is the most processed substance in the hive and the key to the growth of the colony. As its name suggests, it is the queen's food source and comes from the secretion of the pharyngeal glands of the young bee's head.
Royal jelly is given to all larvae in their early days, while queen larvae are fed entirely with it until the exfoliation of their cell (their birth).
This completely unusual food allows the development of larvae unique to the animal world, so much so that in five days a larva sees its initial weight multiply 1800 times. This food also allows the queen to lay an average of more than 1000 eggs a day, during the growing season of the colony population (mainly in the spring).
Royal jelly is a kind of protruding pollen. Its chemical composition is not very different from that of pollen. Water occupies 64 - 66%, glycides 12 to 16% (fructose and glucose in equal parts), lipids 4 to 6%, proteins 12 to 18% with the presence of at least eight basic amino acids readily assimilable.
It contains vitamins from the whole complex of vitamins in various concentrations and especially those of group B except B12. It is the richest natural substance in vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), which is the best anxiolytic vitamin, has anti-fatigue action and promotes longevity. Also of great interest are the various fatty acids, such as hydroxyl fatty acids and dicarboxylic acids, which are said to be responsible for most of the biological properties of royal jelly.
Royal jelly has often been considered a miracle cure, capable of curing any ailment, but the excitement is certainly a bit excessive. The fact that it has the ability to turn the little larva of the worker into a queen and that the queen becomes an adult insect five days earlier than the worker, can live 4-5 years, unlike the last one that lives up to a few months , as well as the queen is fertile while the worker sterile, makes us think that she must have many invigorating and healing properties. It has a major effect on intracellular metabolism, the cardiovascular system, the digestive system, the immune system, the endocrine system, the nervous system, and the psyche. More generally we can say that it has stimulating, invigorating, tonic effects and that it helps to effectively fight the problems due to aging, either at the level of organs and skin, or even at the spiritual level, thanks to its ability to significantly increase the amount of oxygen reaching the brain.
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