Royal jelly, a product used by alternative practitioners to slow aging, enhance the immune system and lower cholesterol sounds much more appetizing if you don't know what goes into it. Made from a milky substance secreted by glands in the bee's mouth mixed with bee pollen and honey, royal jelly supplies the queen bees with nutrients. Eating royal jelly does not confer any known immunity against bee sting venom and may cause allergic reactions.
Ingredients
You can experience an allergic or asthmatic reaction to royal jelly if you're allergic to pollen, because bee pollen comes from the pollen bees pick up from flowers. People with asthma or atopic dermatitis have a high rate of reaction to royal jelly, researchers from Walter reed Army Hospital reported in the February 2009 "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology." If you're allergic to honey, you could also have a reaction to royal jelly. While royal jelly doesn't contain bee venom, if you have allergic reactions to bee stings, you may also have an allergic reaction to other bee products such as royal jelly.
Reactions
Asthma, bronchospasm, skin rashes and anaphylaxis can all occur from using royal jelly. If you put royal jelly on your skin, you could develop a rash at the site. Around 3 percent of people develop anaphylaxis after a bee sting, with hives, rashes, swelling of the face and throat, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, and possibly loss of consciousness, MayoClinic.com reports. At least 5 percent of Americans have a pollen allergy, according to Stephen Barrett, M.D. of Quackwatch.
Densensitization
Allergists sometimes desensitize people who have allergic reactions by giving them very small but increasing amounts of the allergen over weeks or months. Because you can't always avoid bees or pollen, bee sting or pollen sensitization may sound like a good idea if you're allergic, but talk to your allergist or physician about injections and don't try to desensitize yourself with royal jelly. Allergy desensitization requires close monitoring and medical supervision.
Considerations
Desensitization therapy for pollens and other allergens delivers precise amounts of drug in carefully measured and controlled amounts. The amounts of ingredients in royal jelly can't be controlled in the same way. Allergists also watch patients during therapy and afterward for any signs of severe reactions, which you can't do if you try to desensitize yourself at home. Royal jelly may also contain potentially harmful contaminants introduced during the manufacturing process.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Bee Stings
- Health Services at Columbia University; Royal Jelly; January 2008
- "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunity"; Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the Allergist-Immunologist: Where Do I Start?; R. Engler, M.D., et al.; February 2009
- Quackwatch; Bee Pollen and Royal Jelly; Stephen Barrett, M.D.; September 1999
- MayoClinic.com: Allergy Shots
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