Background: Type 2 diabetes is the fourth major public health problem worldwide. Royal Jelly (RJ) insulin-like activity and blood glucose modulating properties have been reported in animal and healthy volunteers.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a single dose of fresh RJ as a complementary therapy on glycemic response in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Patients and methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 40 patients with type 2 diabetes were assigned into the RJ (n = 20) and placebo (n = 20) groups and received either 10 g fresh RJ or placebo after overnight fasting. Serum glucose, insulin and C-peptide concentrations were determined at 0, 60, 120 minutes after the intervention. Independent t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyze data.
Results: The mean serum glucose levels were significantly decreased in RJ and placebo groups; however, mean serum level was different but not statistically. (P = 0.77). One hour after RJ ingestion the mean serum insulin concentrations were increased and after 2 hours it was decreased insignificantly (P = 0.54, P = 0.20). The mean C-peptide concentrations were significantly increased after 1 and 2 hours of RJ ingestion; however, in the placebo group we observed a slight but insignificant reduction at the time of 1 and 2 hours in the mean C-peptide serum levels (P = 0.40). Moreover, there was no significant difference in none of the glycemic control parameters between both studied groups (P > 0.05).
Conclusions: It seems that RJ does not appear to have significant immediate effects on glycemic factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, further studies with larger sample sizes and different doses of RJ are needed to achieve more precise results.
Keywords: Glycemic Control; Hyperglycemia; Royal Jelly.