Royal jelly, also known as gelee royale and RJ, is the milky-
white gelatinous substance secreted from the cephalic glands of
nurse worker bees (Apis mellifera) for apparently the sole
purpose of stimulating the growth and development of the queen
bee. Without royal jelly, the queen bee would be no different
from the worker bees and would live about as long (seven to
eight weeks). With royal jelly, the queen bee can live five to
seven years. This fact explains the popular belief that royal
jelly has rejuvenating qualities. Royal jelly consists of an
emulsion of proteins, sugars, lipids and some other substances
in a water base. Proteins make up about 13% of royal jelly. Most
of the proteins comprise a family called major royal jelly
proteins. One protein in royal jelly called royalsin possesses
antibiotic properties against gram-positive, but not gram-
negative, bacteria. About 11% of royal jelly is made up of
sugars, such as fructose and glucose, similar to those found in
honey. Lipids comprise about 5% of the