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Abstract
Context: Royal jelly (RJ) has been reported for its health promoting factors such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and lipid lowering activities.
Objective: The present randomized, placebo-controlled study examines the hypolipidemic beneficial effect of RJ through evaluating anthropometric measurements, lipid profile and various hormone levels in mildly hypercholesterolemic participants.
Materials and methods: Forty subjects with mild hypercholesterolemia (180–200 mg/dL) were randomly selected and divided into two groups as experimental or placebo, who requested to intake nine capsules (350 mg/capsule) of RJ or placebo/day, respectively, for three months with one month of follow-up without any supplementation.
Results: No significant changes were noted in any of the anthropometric parameters like body weight, waist and body fat. The serum total cholesterol (TC; 207.05–183.15 mg/dL) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c; 126.44–120.31 mg/dL) levels were reduced significantly (p < 0.05) after administration of RJ. However, triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels were not considerably altered. Moreover, three months of RJ consumption significantly ameliorated (p < 0.05) the concentration of sex hormones like dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S; 1788.09–1992.31 ng/mL). Also, intake of RJ did not elicit any hepatic or renal damage.
Discussion and conclusion: Intervention with RJ for three months considerably lowered the TC and LDL-c levels through improving the levels of DHEA-S and thus alleviates the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the subjects who participated in this study.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest to disclose.