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What is D-ribose?
A comprehensive review
In trying to find different supplements that can support my Fibromyalgia management, I stumbled across D-ribose. You mave have also seen it too but what exactly is it?
What is D-Ribose?
I have seen this substance on the shelf in the lab for many years, learned about ribose synthesis and its role in RNA and ATP synthesis but I never put them together and realized that it was a viable option for treatment.
I didn’t even know that it was even fit for human consumption.
We are now presented with the possibility that D-ribose is an option when looking for information and researching on your condition. You’ve been searching high and low in every inch of the world wide web to find out what was the cause of Fibromyalgia at the molecular level…ok maybe not but you have been looking.
If you can know this then you may understand the root cause and a viable treatment option could emerge. One of the major symptoms of Fibromyalgia is being inexplicably exhausted all the time, or feeling energetic one minute only to have the energy drained from you the next minute and you’re practically bed ridden for the rest of the week.
It’s as if your battery was fully charged when you woke up but couldn’t keep the power for a mere four hours. We’ve all had devices like that.
So, the question is: What is the “thing” in any living plant or animal that gives “charge”. The answer is Adenosine Tri-Phosphate, in short ATP. This substance is a rate limiting step in energy production. Now, if you have more of this, will you be able to be more energetic?
Hopefully. Where might there be an external source of ATP? You need lots of it too!
If you tried looking up ATP supplements for humans you’ll find D-ribose. But that isn’t ATP. True, it’s not but it is a part of the structure that makes up ATP and if you can provide your body with all the materials it needs for making ATP then you are well on our way to beat fatigue!
We are all guilty of being over thinkers and the only solution for that is to to look for more solid research on any theory that you may have about D-ribose and how it may be an important part of your Fibromyalgia management. Here are some research articles that were in support or against D-ribose as treatment of any condition they were investigating. While reading keep these six questions in your mind to be able to weed out studies that aren’t applicable to you :
1. Who are they treating?
2. What condition were they treating?
3. When were they giving the treatment?
4. How much are they administering and for how long?
5. Why were they were testing this as a treatment?
6. Where were they treating these patients?
All these questions would give insight on motive for study and if it is applicable to me for my intents and purposes.
Whenever you’re reading keep an open mind on the journals that they were published in.
Here’s a short review article on the papers that can be most helpful for you, take in some of these to your Family Doctor where you can have a discussion about dosage and frequency before begin taking this supplement.
This first paper is basically a handbook on D-ribose if there ever was any [1].
It goes into detail about the structure of D-ribose, process by which it is made and the recommended allowances for every age group. It also discusses other research and studies and well as its absorbing efficiency with and without food and any possible side effects. It goes into the product itself and the impurities that may be found after manufacturing processes. It also assesses purity levels and foods that may contain amounts of D-ribose.
If you’re not into reading a bunch of different articles from all over the place this is a comprehensive report and it’s good for an entire week’s worth of read as it is 28 pages long. You can use this as a reference point when starting your research. This next paper [2] gave some potential to the use of D-ribose in healthy adults.
It discusses the recovery of healthy adults from exercise. This is at least comforting to know that it could possibly help in post-exertional fatigue, right
Then this study [3] came up that claims D-Ribose does not have any effect on treating inflammatory myosotis, this gives credibility to my idea that Fibromyalgia may not be an inflammatory response but an energy deficiency caused by mitochondrial malfunction.
This malfunction or dysfunction may be due to stress; which we can get into more or by genetic predisposition. One drawback that I noticed in this study is that the treatment for D’ ribose did not extend to the amount of time that I had taken it to see results. They also used only 4mg/kg which would translate to only 0.22g for my 55kg when I actually take between 5 to 15 grams per day. That would be 91 mg to 273 mg/kg. Which is 22 to 68 times more than what is stated in the study.
This study isn’t a complete wash, because it can make some good direction on the principle of elimination.
It was a bit disappointing from that first read but then the journey was renewed again when I found a study that [4] correlates D-ribose with energy production in the mitochondria.
It mentions D-ribose in the treatment of Fibromyalgia and other conditions! Amazing! The key that I was looking for. The evidence was slowly being unfolded and a story was being put together which put D-ribose on the top of my list of things to buy. And then, the crux of it all.
Another paper [5] also uses D-ribose in a study that treated patients with fibromyalgia! That was a great find and this information would be so useful for patients like you. In this study over 250 patients in over 50 clinics across the United States that were diagnosed with Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue syndrome were given the benefit of trying D-ribose. These patients were given five grams three times a day and the outcome was nothing short of amazing.
The study found that there was over 60 % increase in energy; about 30% or more increase in mood, sleep improvement and mental clrity. And if that was not enough pain was reduced by more than 15.6%! To top it off d-Ribose was found to be beneficial for patients with Myocardial ischemia [6,7]. I was elated to say the least that I had found these studies and it gave me hope that there is a way to manage my condition and that all was not lost.
Just some of it…
So now we can answer our questions:
1. Who are they treating?
· Some mice, humans
2. What condition were they treating?
· Inflammatory conditions, work out recovery, Fibromyalgia and other Chronic pain and fatigue conditions as well as some cardiac diseases.
3. When were they giving the treatment?
· Varied but after meals was common
4. How much are they administering and for how long?
· As little as 0.22 g/ kg and up to 273 g/kg
5. Why were they were testing this as a treatment?
· Mostly to associate the administration of D-ribose to symptom alleviation
6. Where were they treating these patients?
· Labs, clinics, outpatient centers and in their homes
At the very least we have found that D-ribose is consumable and is already in many of the foods we eat in small amounts. It’s purity reaches food safety standards and there were minimal side effects to report. We also understand the structure of D-ribose itself and its importance to mitochondrial function and energy production.
In the other readings the successful treatment of some Fibromyalgia symptoms with D-ribose was reported. This was an exciting breakthrough for me in researching my condition. I was well on my way to take this condition by the horns and put my recovery on my own hands.
Although, you have been presented with a vast amount of information here, please seek medical advice before adding this supplement to your regimen.
References:
1. EFSA NDA Panel (EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens), Turck, D, Castenmiller, J, De Henauw, S, Hirsch‐Ernst, KI, Kearney, J, Knutsen, HK, Maciuk, A, Mangelsdorf, I, McArdle, HJ, Naska, A, Pelaez, C, Pentieva, K, Siani, A, Thies, F, Tsabouri, S, Vinceti, M, Dean, T, Engel, KH, Heinonen, M, Marchelli, R, Neuhäuser‐Berthold, M, Poulsen, M, Pöting, A, Sanz, Y, Schlatter, JR, Germini, A and van Loveren, H, 2018. Statement on the safety of d‐ribose. EFSA Journal 2018;16(12):5485, 10 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5485
2. Seifert, J. G., Brumet, A., & Cyr, J. A. S. (2017). The influence of D-ribose ingestion and fitness level on performance and recovery. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1). doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0205-8
3. Coley, W., Rayavarapu, S., van der Meulen, J. H., Duba, A. S., & Nagaraju, K. (2013). Daily supplementation of D-ribose shows no therapeutic benefits in the MHC-I transgenic mouse model of inflammatory myositis. PloS one, 8(6), e65970. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065970
4. Mahoney, D. E., Hiebert, J. B., Thimmesch, A., Pierce, J. T., Vacek, J. L., Clancy, R. L., Sauer, A. J., & Pierce, J. D. (2018). Understanding D-Ribose and Mitochondrial Function. Advances in bioscience and clinical medicine, 6(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.abcmed.v.6n.1p.1
5. Teitelbaum, Jacob. (2012). Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia with D-Ribose– An Open-label, Multicenter Study. The Open Pain Journal. 5. 32-37. 10.2174/1876386301205010032.
6. Shecterle, L. M., Terry, K. R., & St Cyr, J. A. (2018). Potential Clinical Benefits of D-ribose in Ischemic Cardiovascular Disease. Cureus, 10(3), e2291. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.2291
7. Bayram M, Perkowski D, St Cyr JA, Abraham WT (2018) Clinical Significance and Applications of D-Ribose in Cardiovascular Disease. Int Arch Cardiovasc Dis2:013. 10.23937/iacvd-2017/1710013
