Composition of freshly
harvested and commercial royal jelly
Author(s)
S. R. Howe, P. S. Dimick and A. W. Benton
Abstract
Royal jelly from Apis mellifera ligustica was
examined by proximate analysis, amino acid analysis and chromatographic
characterization of methylated fatty-acids using a pattern-recognition method.
Crude protein was 11.9%, crude moisture 67.1% and crude lipid 4.3%. Amino acid
analysis showed 17 standard protein amino acids and 5 unidentified
ninhydrin-positive compounds. Aspartic acid was the major amino acid, at 16.1%
of the protein content. The major fatty-acid, 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid was
present at an average concentration of 50.3% of the total fatty acid content.
The gross composition of 11 commercial royal jelly products was compared to
that of the pure royal jelly used in this study. Six commercial royal jelly
products were found to be adulterated.
Keywords
Apis mellifera ligustica, royal jelly, commercial royal jelly, harvested royal jelly, composition
