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

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.

Keywords: apitherapy; bioactive properties; estrogenic effect; fatty acids; menopause symptoms; royal jelly.

Figure 1

Biological properties of royal jelly [9].

Figure 2

Schematical representation of the biological composition of royal jelly and the main functional activities of the compounds [37,38,39,40,41,42,43].

Figure 3

Royal jelly’s beneficial effects in relieving menopause symptoms and aging-related diseases. This figure also illustrates the essential pathways through which royal jelly exerts its estrogen-like action, one of the most important characteristics of this natural product.