Torq Ribose (500g) 07

Ribose is a simple sugar, the carbohydrate backbone of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), so is a component of the genetic materials used to pass on genetic code from one generation to the next. As well as having this very important function, ribose is also the starting point for the production of ATP. Although cells cannot draw nucleotides back into them to re-form ATP, they can make it from scratch using ribose.

Ribose is found naturally in every living cell of the body and is synthesised from glucose, but this is slow, complicated and requires energy. Supplemental ribose is able to bypass this process, quickly re-building cellular ATP and returning muscle energy levels to normal. Again, research has shown that ribose supplementation increases the manufacture of ATP in skeletal muscle by 340 to 430 percent. It has also demonstrated that ribose improves the cell's ability to salvage and re-use ADP and AMP by as much as 700 percent (these are the nucleotides that are usually lost from the cell for good). These are not 'slight' benefits. They are highly significant and quite staggering.

 

Why supplement with ribose?

Whilst all living cells contain ribose, there is not enough in the food we eat to re-stock energy levels. Ribose in meat is predominantly lost through the cooking process and there are insufficient quantities of the nutrient in plant foodstuffs to have any effect. Add to this the fact that it can take many days for the body to synthesise its own ribose from glucose and the benefits of supplementing with this nutrient become clear. Supplemental ribose is very quickly absorbed into the bloodstream with much of this absorption occurring before it is even swallowed. Once in the muscle cell itself, ribose can be very quickly transformed into ATP.

Without ribose supplementation, research suggests that most people's muscles will take between 26 and 93 hours (1-4 days) to return cellular ATP levels to normal after strenuous exercise. It goes without saying that this could be longer or shorter depending on how strenuous and prolonged the exercise was (this is based on a 28 percent loss of nucleotides from the muscle). With ribose supplementation, full cellular energy charge would take 6 to 22 hours (within a day).

 

How much ribose should I take?

You'll get full usage instructions with your tub of TORQ ribose, but we're not talking huge quantities here. To keep cellular ATP levels at their highest, you should be taking 3 to 5 grams (1 level teaspoon) of ribose per day. During periods of low load training or prolonged recovery, it's questionable as to whether you'll derive any benefit from taking ribose. Therefore a 500gram tub of TORQ ribose will keep you going for a minimum of 100 days (3 months).

 

Is ribose supplementation safe?

Ribose is naturally occurring in every living cell of every living creature (animal or plant) on the planet. Ribose is not a compound that's alien to the body, but one that it recognizes and uses effectively. It is because there are no substantial dietary sources of ribose that the body needs to make its own. This is why ribose supplementation is so astonishingly effective. It's only in the last couple of years that scientists have worked out a way to manufacture this simple sugar relatively inexpensively. There have been incidences of diarrhea in individuals that have taken exceptionally high doses (60grams per day), but this is 12 to 20 times the suggested dose.