The health food store can be a daunting place. Lack of familiarity with herbal and homeopathic remedies often discourage an uninitiated shopper from exploring the world of alternative medicine. Stocked amongst shelves packed with unfamiliar substances with unpronounceable names, royal jelly and ginseng are natural supplements with a long history of use amongst herbalists and other natural food proponents. These two supplements are the go-to remedy for a number of ailments, according to Dr. James F. Balch, author of "Prescription for Nutritional Healing."
Energy-Boosting Effects
Used in Asian countries as an energy booster for centuries, the effectiveness of ginseng to boost energy levels was also studied by the Russians, who hailed it as a mental and physical stimulant, according to Balch.
Doctors Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen seem to contradict this claim in their book "You: Staying Young," where they cite studies which show that doses of 200 to 600 mg ginseng extract decrease wakefulness and increase slow wave sleep.
Nutritional Benefits
Royal jelly is a substance secreted by young worker bees. The powerful nutrients concentrated in royal jelly promote rapid and extreme growth. Administration of large doses of royal jelly are fed to the queen bee, allowing her to grow much bigger and live much longer than the rest of the hive.
According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, research has proven that royal jelly is rich in amino acids and essential fatty acids, as well as many vitamins and minerals.
Cancer Fighting Properties
The American Cancer society notes that research into the effectiveness of ginseng and royal jelly is exhaustive and ongoing, but no conclusive evidence supporting the use of these substances as a cancer fighters has yet surfaced.
Researchers in Australia and Japan have studied the effectiveness of bee products as cancer fighters, but these studies, using mice as subjects, have not been replicated in humans.
Chinese and Korean studies reported lower overall cancer risk in the general population of ginseng users, as well as longer survival times and better quality of life among breast cancer patients who used ginseng extract. The American Cancer Society notes that these studies fail to hold up under scientific scrutiny, and that more research is needed.
Ongoing research continues into ginseng's effectiveness in relieving fatigue in chemotherapy patients.
References
- "Prescription for Nutritional Healing"; James F. Balch and Phyllis A. Balch; 2006
- "You: Staying Young"; Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz; 2007
- "The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine"; Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe; 2005
- American Cancer Society: Ginseng
- American Cancer Society: Apitherapy
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