## 3 Results and Discussion
### Chemical Composition
#### 3.1.2 Chemical Composition of Royal Jelly
The samples of fresh royal jelly that we analyzed had a water content of 65.56%, protein 41.72 mg/mL, and ash 1.46%, the minimum values being observed in the case of commercial royal jelly and the maximum values in the case of that harvested by us from the hive (Table 4). In the case of protein, the differences in content were statistically significant (\(p<0.05\)) between the two sources of origin. The values recorded for impurities ranged from 9.32-16.79%. The acidity of the analyzed samples ranged from 29.45 mg/100 g (from our own apiary) to 33.03 mg/100 g (freeze-dried) and the pH was in the range 3.14-3.41 (Table 4). The highest proportion of macroelements was occupied by phosphorus with 1648.38 mg, followed by potassium 1182.42 mg, magnesium 365.77 mg, calcium 200.79 mg, and sodium 182.67 mg (Table 4). We observed statistically significant differences in calcium content (\(p<0.05\)) between the samples analyzed, probably due to the different geographical locations of the beekeepers and the food sources the bees had access to. The maximum values of macroelements were recorded for commercially available royal jelly, with the exception of phosphorus, for which the maximum third was found in royal jelly from the beekeeper's own apiary. In the case of microelements, zinc (19.71 mg) and iron (17.87 mg) occupy the largest share in the composition of fresh royal jelly, followed by copper (6.26 mg), manganese (4.20 mg), and chromium (1.03 mg), the maximum values being recorded by the commercial product. In the case of freeze-dried royal jelly, the water content was 3.33%, protein was 94.76 mg/g, and ash 2.95%. The weight of macro- and microelements was close to that recorded for fresh royal jelly (Table 4). Regarding heavy metals, nickel and lead were not detected in the analyzed samples, and cadmium was detected in the range of 0.70-1.51 ppm, with higher values observed in commercial royal jelly, both fresh and lyophilized (Table 4). Studies by [PERSON] et al. [43] showed that the major component of fresh royal jelly is water, accounting for 60-70%, while proteins represent 50% of the dry matter. Sugars have an important weight of 7.5-15%, of which 90% are represented by fructose and glucose, and lipids are present in royal jelly at a proportion of 7-18%. [PERSON] et al., 2021 [6] reported on fresh royal jelly from Poland with a water content of 65.4-69%, protein 10.43-18%, and pH 3.97-3.98. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [44] stated that Bulgarian lyophilized royal jelly has in its composition water 3.49-4.76%, dry matter 95.24-96.51%, proteins 34.09-41.80%, lipids 3.09-8.56%, sugars 24.27-32.67%, and acidity of 10.67-12.88 mg/100 g, values that confirm the results obtained by [PERSON] et al. [45]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Fresh Royal Jelly**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Lyophilized Royal Jelly**} \\  & **Own Apiary** & **Market** & \\  & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** \\ \hline Water content (\%) & 65.56 \(\pm\) 1.064 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 64.75 \(\pm\) 0.079 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 3.33 \(\pm\) 0.010 \({}^{\rm B}\) \\ \hline DM (\%) & 34.17 \(\pm\) 0.987 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 35.22 \(\pm\) 0.078 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 94.64 \(\pm\) 2.000 \({}^{\rm B}\) \\ \hline Acidity & 29.45 \(\pm\) 0.045 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 31.77 \(\pm\) 1.485 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 33.03 \(\pm\) 1.704 \({}^{\rm A}\) \\ \hline pH & 3.41 \(\pm\) 0.042 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 3.14 \(\pm\) 0.020 \({}^{\rm b}\) & 3.15 \(\pm\) 0.050 \({}^{\rm A}\) \\ \hline Impurities (\%) & 9.96 \(\pm\) 0.656 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 9.32 \(\pm\) 0.809 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 16.79 \(\pm\) 0.738 \({}^{\rm B}\) \\ \hline Protein & 41.72 \(\pm\) 1.005 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 36.13 \(\pm\) 0.110 \({}^{\rm b}\) & 94.76 \(\pm\) 5.705 \({}^{\rm B}\) \\ \hline Ash (\%) & 1.46 \(\pm\) 0.015 \({}^{\rm a}\) & 0.93 \(\pm\) 0.015 \({}^{\rm b}\) & 2.95 \(\pm\) 0.050 \({}^{\rm B}\) \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Chemical composition of fresh and lyophilized royal jelly. The macroelement content of royal jelly studied by [PERSON] et al.