Royal Jelly Bestows Insulin Benefits to Diabetics

by | Apr 22, 2016 | 2015, Diabetes, Pancreatic Health, Royal Jelly

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS.In a study of 46 patients, those who supplemented with Royal Jelly for 8 weeks had a significant 25% decrease in a measure of insulin sensitivity (HOMA-IR) compared to a 21.7% increase in the placebo group.

Royal jelly is secreted by worker honey bees. It is known to contain major nutrients, vitamins and minerals (1) and has been shown to help with blood pressure health and overall cellular health (2). Now a new study (3) suggests that Royal Jelly may benefit type 2 diabetics.

The study involved 46 patients (22 males, 24 females) between the ages of 43 and 60, with a body mass index between 20-30 kg/m2 and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 5-10 years. They were given either 3,000 mg of Royal Jelly (1,000 mg 3 times daily) or a placebo for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, those in the Royal Jelly group saw a 25% decrease in a measure of insulin sensitivity called HOMA-IR (2.64 to 1.98) compared to a 21.7% increase in the placebo group (2.57 to 3.13, p = 0.023).

The significance in improving HOMA-IR is that it is a measure of insulin sensitivity (4) and a reliable predictor for Metabolic Syndrome (5), a condition characterized by a number of risk factors. These include central obesity (excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen), increased blood pressure (130/85 mmHg or higher), and insulin resistance (6). Metabolic Syndrome is called “the most expensive disease you’ve never heard of (7).

In addition, those in the Royal Jelly group experienced a 5.7% increase in a measure of antioxidant protection called “Total Antioxidant Capacity” (8) (858.13 to 907.63) compared to a 3.6% decrease in the placebo group (784.78 to 756.69, p = 0.016). The importance of increasing antioxidant capacity is that “oxidative stress plays a critical role in development and progression of diabetes and complications such as atherosclerosis, coronary heart and kidney diseases” (9).

For the researchers, “Royal Jelly intake may have favorable effects on serum Total Antioxidant Capacity and HOMA-IR in diabetic patients” and that “administration of Royal Jelly…may be useful” for those with type 2 diabetes.

Source: Shidfar, Farzad, et al. “Does Supplementation with Royal Jelly Improve Oxidative Stress and Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetic Patients?.” Iranian journal of public health 44.6 (2015): 797.

© Iranium Journal of Public Health Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted November 2, 2015.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.

References:

  1. Mesallamy H E, Suwailem S, Hamdy N. Evaluation of C-reactive protein, endothelin-1, adhesion molecule (s), and lipids as inflamma-tory markers in type 2 diabetes mellitus pa-tients. Mediators of Inflammation 2007; 73: 635-637
  2. Tokunaga K. H, Yoshida C, Suzuki K. M, Maruyama H, Futamura Y, Araki Y, Mishima S. Antihypertensive effect of peptides from royal jelly in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Biol Pharm Bull 2004; 27(2): 189-192
  3. Shidfar F.  Does Supplementation with Royal Jelly Improve Oxidative Stress and Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetic Patients? Iran J Public Health 2015 Jun;44(6):797-803
  4. Wallace TM, Levy JC, Matthews DR (2004) Use and abuse of HOMA modeling. Diabetes Care 27: 1487–1495
  5. Sharma S.  Identifying metabolic syndrome in African American children using fasting HOMA-IR in place of glucose.  Prev Chronic Dis 2011 May;8(3):A64. Epub 2011 Apr 15
  6. “Metabolic Syndrome” posted on the American Heart Association Website
  7. “Metabolic Syndrome”: The Most Expensive Disease You’ve Never Heard Of” – Medical News Today, May 9, 2005
  8. Benzie F.F, Steain J.J. Ferric Reduc-ing/Antioxidant Assay: direct measure antioxi-dant activity of biological fluids and modified version for simultaneous measurement of total antioxidant power and ascorbic acid concen-tration. Methods in Enzymology 1999; 299:15-23.
  9. Mesallamy H E, Suwailem S, Hamdy N (2007). Evaluation of C-reactive protein, endothelin-1, adhesion molecule (s), and lipids as inflamma-tory markers in type 2 diabetes mellitus pa-tients. Mediators of Inflammation, 73: 635-637.