Royal jelly is a valuable bee product that is secreted by worker bees to feed baby bees and the queen bee in the hive. Being fed only with royal jelly, queen bee grows 2 times bigger and lives 30 times longer than the other bees. 10-HDA (10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid) and royalactin are two unique compounds found only in royal jelly and have been reported to have many functional properties.
A study investigated the effects of royal jelly and 10-HDA on UVB-induced photoaging by measuring procollagen type I, transforming growth factor, and matrix metalloproteinase after UVB irradiation. The data indicated that UVB-irradiated human skin fibroblasts treated with royal jelly and 10-HDA had increased procollagen type I and TGF-b1 productions, but the level of MMP-1 was not changed. The authors suggested that royal jelly may potentially protect the skin from UVB-induced photoaging by enhancing collagen production.
Referance
Park H.M., Hwang E., Lee K.G., Han S.M., Cho Y., and Kim SY. Royal jelly protects against ultraviolet B-induced photoaging in human skin fibroblasts via enhancing collagen production. J Med Food. 2011, Sep;14(9):899-906.