Effects of Royal Jelly Supplementation on Glycemic Control and Oxidative Stress Factors in Type 2 Diabetic Female:A Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective:It has been proposed that royal jelly has antioxidant properties and may improve oxidative stress and glycemic control.Therefore,we investigated the effects of royal jelly supplementation in diabetic females.Methods:In this pilot,parallel design randomized clinical trial,50 female volunteers with type2 diabetes were randomly allocated to the supplemented(25,cases)and placebo(25,cases)groups,based on random block procedure produced by Random Allocation Software,given a daily dose of 1,000 mg royal jelly soft gel or placebo,respectively,for 8 weeks.Before and after intervention,glycemic control indices,antioxidant and oxidative stress factors were measured.Results:After royal jelly supplementation,the mean fasting blood glucose decreased remarkably(163.05142.51 mg/dL vs.149.68±42.7 mg/dL).Royal jelly supplementation resulted in significant reduction in the mean serum glycosylated hemoglobin levels(8.67%±2.24%vs.7.05%±1.45%,P=0.001)and significant elevation in the mean insulin concentration(70.28±29.16 pmol/L vs.86.46±27.50 pmol/L,P=0.01).Supplementation significantly increased erythrocyte superoxidase dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities and decreased malondialdehyde levels(P<0.05).At the end of study,the mean total antioxidant capacity elevated insignificantly in both groups.Conclusions:On the basis of our findings,it seems that royal jelly supplementation may be beneficial in controlling diabetes outcomes.Further studies with larger sample size are warranted.