Royal jelly is a secretion of honey bees that is used as a health tonic. It has been studied for blood sugar, liver health and other metabolic markers.
Also known as: bee royal jelly.
There is no intake value. The trials in the meta-analyses used different products and amounts.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: a 2019 meta-analysis of 5 trials found that royal jelly did not improve fasting blood sugar or HbA1c (Mahboobi 2019). A 2023 meta-analysis of 10 trials found no overall effect on liver enzymes or blood sugar measures; fasting blood sugar was lower in trials lasting 8 weeks or more and in people who were not healthy, and the authors say the analysis should be repeated as more trials are done (Bahari 2023).
Safety: royal jelly can cause serious allergic reactions. A 1996 report describes 7 people who developed asthma, and in some cases anaphylaxis, after taking royal jelly; tests showed true IgE allergy to royal jelly proteins. Antibodies to royal jelly were also found in about half of people with other inhalant or food allergies, though what that means is not known (Thien 1996). The sources here do not describe drug interactions.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for royal jelly that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. Plant and bee products are mixtures of many compounds, so no single figure would describe them.
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