Bioenergy RIBOSE™ in Sports Nutrition Strenuous, high-intensity exercise drains energy from muscle and places a great strain on the heart leading to diastolic dysfunction that can persist for several weeks to months following an athletic event. Bioenergy RIBOSE can help hearts and muscles accelerate energy recovery, reduce fatigue post-exercise malaise, and improve exercise performance over time.
In skeletal muscle, high-intensity exercise can lead to a loss of up to 26% of cellular adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. A certain portion of this energy is quickly replaced as the muscle recovers, but up to 40% of the depleted ATP is washed out of the cell and lost. Normally, this lost energy can be restored with rest lasting for more than three days, but if exercise continues the cell may not fully recover on its own. Over time, this progressive energy loss can affect cell and muscle function and affect athletic performance.
Another consequence of this energy drain is an increase in free radicals in affected muscle. Free radicals attack cell and mitochondrial membranes and can destroy the genetic material that helps muscle tissues synthesize proteins. It also depletes the cell of energy it needs to increase lean muscle mass.
Bioenergy RIBOSE helps in three ways. First, if enough ribose is present in the cell or the circulating blood, energy compounds can be saved, or salvaged, before they wash out of the cell and are lost. Second, ribose accelerates energy synthesis, so if energy compounds are lost, they can be quickly replaced. Finally, by keeping the energy compounds in the cell, Bioenergy RIBOSE reduces free radical formation and preserves the energy the tissue needs to make proteins essential for maintaining muscle health and performance.
Skeletal muscle lacks the metabolic capacity to make ribose quickly when muscles are stressed. Supplementing with Bioenergy RIBOSE gives the muscle the ribose it needs to make ATP and restore the energy charge of the cell. Research has shown that in mixed muscle, ribose can increase energy salvage by up to 8-fold and accelerate ATP synthesis by up to 4.3-fold. This means that muscle can recover in one to three days, rather than the three to seven days seen in muscle not supplemented with ribose.
And this energy improvement has been shown to translate to increased performance over time. A study published in the journal, Current Therapeutic Research, showed that male recreational bodybuilders experienced a significant improvement in both strength and endurance following 28 days of Bioenergy RIBOSE supplementation. While placebo-treated athletes showed an improvement in both parameters, the improvements were not statistically significant.
Bioenergy RIBOSE is not a stimulant, and it does not provide a functional or performance benefit from one exercise bout to another, or following only a few days of supplementation. Instead, what Bioenergy RIBOSE does is keep the muscle energy level high so the muscle stays in top physiological condition. In the short term, this helps overcome post-exertional fatigue and soreness and reduces the "spongy" legs and weakness that frequently follows an extended training bout. Over the longer term, it can translate to better training and enhanced athletic performance.
To learn more about how Bioenergy RIBOSE can enhance exercise recovery and improve performance, refer to the following:
- Brault JJ, Terjung RL. Purine Salvage to Adenine Nucleotides in Different Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types, J Appl Physiol, 2001;91:231-238 - Full Article (PDF)
- Hellsten Y, L Skadhauge, J Bangsbo. Effect of Ribose Supplemetatin on Resynthesis of ADenine Nucleotides after Intermittent Training in Humans, AM J Physiol, Regul Intergr Comp Physiol, 2004;286:R182-R188 - Full Article (PDF)
- Dodd SL, CA Johnson, K Fernholz, JA St.Cyr. The role of ribose in human skeletal muscle metabolism. Med Hypoth 2004;62(5):819-824. - Full Article (PDF)
- Seifert JG, A Subhudi, M-X Fu, KL Riska, JC John. The Effects of Ribose Ingestion on Indicies or Free Radical Production During Hypoxic Exercise, Free Rad Biol Med, 2002;33(Suppl 1):S269 - Clinical Study (PDF)
- Tullson PC, RL Terjung. Adenine nucleotide synthesis in exercising and endurance-trained skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol 1991;261:C342-C347. - Full Article (PDF)
- Zarzeczny R, JJ Brault, KA Abraham, CR Hancock, RL Terjung. . Influence of ribose on adenine salvage after intense muscle contractions. J Appl Physiol 2001;91:1775-1781. - Full Article (PDF)
- Van Gammeren D, D Falk, J Antonio. T. he Effects of Four Weeks of Ribose Supplementation on Body Composition and Exercise Performance in Healthy, Young, Male Recreational Bodybuilders: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Curr Therapeut Res, 2002;63(8):486-495 - Full Article (PDF)
