Copper, Zinc, Magnesium and Calcium Levels in Royal Jelly That Produced in Bursa Province

Aim: Royal jelly is a bee product that secreted from glands of young worker bees and used resource of food for larvae and queen honeybee. Royal jelly which is very important for physiological development of queen honeybee and larvae, also used by people due to the nutritional properties and positive effects on health. Royal jelly contains water, lipid, protein, carbohydrate, amino acid, short peptide, vitamin, phenolic compounds, trace element and minerals. It was suggested that composition of royal jelly varies depending on the geographical structure of the zone, climate, flora that it is produced, storage condition and bees race. There are also publications which suggest that mineral content of royal jelly is independent of geographical structure and climate, but only varies depending on the harvesting time. There are not so many study related with chemical composition and biological properties of royal jelly that is produced in Turkey. In this study, it was aimed to determine some element levels in royal jelly samples that obtained from Bursa province, Mustafakemalpaşa district. Material and Methods: Element levels of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) (n=3). For each element, the results were exhibited as mean±standard deviation. Results: The amount of Cu was determined 3.25±0.05 mg/kg, the amount of Zn was 23.87±1.33 mg/kg, the amount of Mg was 794.33±38.44 mg/kg and the amount of Ca was 250.87±24.49 mg/kg in Bursa royal jelly. Conclusion: Element levels of Bursa royal jelly are at a level that can contribute to daily mineral requirement. However, there is a need for further in vivo studies on the availability of mineral additives and their therapeutic utility.