Factors influencing the quality of Royal jelly and its components: a review

Figures & data

Figure 1. Royal jelly in royal cells inside a hive.

Table 1. Comparison between national and international standards regarding RJ chemical composition.

Characteristics (%)	ISO	IHC	China	Malawi	Poland	Brazil	Bulgaria	Turkey	Egypt	UAE
Moisture	62.5–68.5	60–70.0	62.5–67.5	62.0–68.5	Max: 67.5	60–70.0	62.5–67.0	62.5–68.5	Max: 66	62.5–68.5
10–HDA	Min:1.4	Min: 1.4	Min: 1.4	Min: 1.4		Min: 2.0		Min: 1.4	Min: 2.0	Min: 1.4
Protein	11.0–18.0	9.0–18.0	Min: 11	11.0–18.0	13.5–20.0	Min: 10	12.0–17.0	11.0–14.5	Min: 12	11.0–18.0
Fructose	2.0–9.0	3.0–13.0		2.0–9.0						2.0–9.0
Glucose	2.0–9.0	4.0–8.0				Max: 10.0				2.0–9.0
Sucrose	Max:3.0 (type1) Max: Not applicable (type2)	0.5–2				Max: 5.0	Max: 4.5			Max:3.0 (type1) Max: Not applicable (type2)
Total sugars	7.0–18.0	7.0–18.0		7.0–18.0	6.5–18.5		9.0–13.0		Min: 12	7.0–18.0

Table 2. Physicochemical parameters affecting quality of RJ from various countries’ bibliography.

A. China.

Race	Forage plant	Period	Area	Climate	Elevation	Moisture %		Crude protein %	Total sugar %	Acidity %	Ash %	10–HDA %
Apis mellifera ligustica–hybrid of A. m. ligustica and A.m. arnica	–Brassica campestris L., Tilia amurensis, Vitex negundo L. variety heterophylla	March 2008–June 2009	Northeastern	Extremely cold T = 5.68 °c	+300m above the sea	65.15 ± 0.30		14.11 ± 0.23	12.73 ± 0.30	36.65 ± 0.48	1.08 ± 0.02	1.87 ± 0.05
			West	Drought and cold T= <10 °c	+250m above the sea	64.43 ± 0.25		13.93 ± 0.24	13.58 ± 0.24	36.41 ± 0.51	0.99 ± 0.02	2.01 ± 0.05
			East	Warm and humid T = 16 °c	–200m Lower than the sea	64.72 ± 0.21		14.25 ± 0.10	13.20 ± 0.13	36.04 ± 0.29	0.96 ± 0.02	1.75 ± 0.03
Techniques						Weight loss after drying in a vacuum–drying oven	Multiplying the content of nitrogen	Fehling’s method	Titration with NaOH	Preheating and adding concentrated sulfuric acid	HPLC

B. Saudi Arabia.

Race	Period	Area	Moisture %	Crude protein %	Fructose %	Glucose %	Sucrose %	Maltose %	Lactose %	Acidity [(1mol/1N NaOH) ml/100g}]	Electrical conductivity (µS/cm)	10–HDA%
Apis mellifera	2020	Al–Baha area of Saudi Arabia’s southwest	66.53 ± 4.19	9.88 ± 2.01	3.67 ± 0.81	3.25 ± 1.01	0.91 ± 0.82	0.45 ± 0.53	0.05 ± 0.12	42.4 ± 0.16	646.96 ± 62.91	3.83 ± 1.56
Techniques			refractive index	the total nitrogen method	HPLC	HPLC	HPLC	HPLC	HPLC	Titration with NaOH	Benchtop pH Meter	HPLC

C. Egypt.

Forage plant	Period	Area	Moisture %	Crude protein%	Lipids%	Carbohydrates%	Ash %	10–HDA%
Citrus	April of 2019	Northern of Egypt	66.5 ± 1.27	12.1 ± 0.75	5.34 ± 0.21	15.39 ± 1.00	0.67 ± 0.02	3.2 ± 0.12
Egyptian clover	June of 2019		64.4 ± 0.47	11.5 ± 0.78	5.52 ± 0.25	17.86 ± 0.83	0.72 ± 0.04	2.92 ± 0.17
cotton	September of 2019		64.2 ± 0.62	11.8 ± 0.22	5.25 ± 0.08	18.12 ± 0.59	0.63 ± 0.03	3.1 ± 0.10
Techniques			weight loss	kjeldahl method	Soxhelt extraction	formula: Carbohydrates = 100–(moisture%+protein%+lipids %+ash%)	removing the moisture and organic matter	HPLC