Royal jelly is the milky white substance secreted by worker honeybees (Apis mellifera) to feed all bee larvae for the first three days, but primarily for the queen bee during her entire life. Royal jelly has been extensively studied and its constituents well established.
Perhaps royal jelly is most often thought of as an anti-aging or energizing ingredient. Much of this has come from the idea that queen bees live longer and are more proliferative than other bees, and royal jelly must have some of the same effect on humans. This has never been confirmed by any research. Royal jelly is found in a number of cosmetic and supplemental products.
The main "active ingredient" is a substance known as 10-HDA, or royal jelly acid, and can range from 2-7% depending on how the royal jelly is treated after retrieval. 10-HDA has been shown to contain some of the following activities: weak antibacterial activity, inhibition of transplantable tumor and leukemia in mice, immune enhancing, liver-protectant, antiinflammatory, and radiation-protectant.