Ribose as a supplement: is it worth buying?
People who know their way around the supplement world are generally lukewarm about ribose. This supplement has been a big disappointment for many athletes at all levels. Various doses of pure ribose have been tried, and the results haven’t been very promising.
Second, it has been established that a typical bodybuilding workout does not deplete adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the muscles enough for ribose to noticeably boost muscle growth or training intensity. Muscle energy stores in the middle of a workout and after it are more than sufficient if you take the so-called ordinary supplements, eat properly, drink plenty of water and have a recovery drink after training.
What is ribose thought to do for bodybuilders?
Ribose is a simple sugar formed through normal metabolism, mainly in cells with a high energy turnover. Intense anaerobic training causes a decrease in adenine nucleotides (TAN), which include ATP.
A drop in TAN levels leads to lower intensity and strength. According to some studies, the body is unable to bring TAN back to its pre-training level for several days. When energy stores in muscle cells are depleted, recovery, muscle growth and training intensity are far from optimal. Ribose is supposed to help prevent this.
However, a much more affordable supplement, creatine, has exactly the same effect. This raises the question: what is the point of adding extremely expensive ribose to creatine if both do the same thing? It has been established that for someone who takes creatine and eats the way a bodybuilder should, ribose offers no benefit, even in very large amounts (up to 10 grams).
A creatine and ribose mix
Only one study claimed that taking 5 grams of creatine together with 3 grams of ribose improves training capacity noticeably more than either component alone. It also found that 3 grams of ribose is more effective than 5 grams of creatine. However, this study is of questionable value, because no bodybuilder or other laboratory has confirmed it yet.
Recent studies have shed some light on the supposed benefits of ribose, but this time the subjects were not bodybuilders, and ribose was not tested in bodybuilding training. Two such studies were carried out at Ball State University (USA). The results showed that by taking 20 grams of ribose a day, it is possible to keep ATP levels the same throughout a workout, which should lead to higher training intensity even in professional cyclists.
More relevant studies were carried out on 12 young bodybuilders, using the bench press exercise. For four weeks in a row, the subjects were given either 10 grams of dextrose (a placebo) or 10 grams of ribose every day. Their training deserves attention, though: 10 consecutive sets, each set taken to failure, with one-minute rests between sets, using a bar weight equal to the athlete’s body weight. The results were astonishing: the group that took ribose saw a 29.8% increase in strength figures versus 7.42% for the placebo.
These results are almost unbelievable, but a few circumstances dampen the enthusiasm. It is not known whether this kind of metabolic exhaustion builds muscle or develops endurance, nor how long a person can train this way without overtraining.
Despite these latest studies, it has still not been proven that ribose increases lean muscle mass. Given the price (10 grams costs about $4 in the US), nobody wants to buy a supplement whose effect is only theoretical. Products that mix ribose with creatine are on sale, but nobody offers pure ribose anymore.
Because of its price, ribose is certainly not worth using as an everyday supplement, but there are a few situations where it has its place. Ribose gives bodybuilders no benefit, since their training does not use up that much TAN. It can be used by boxers, wrestlers and people in some other anaerobic sports, because their training can lower TAN levels quite a lot.
Until the benefits of ribose are proven, bodybuilders should stick to protein powder, creatine, glutamine and multivitamins.
Author: FLEX, translated by Mikk Alvar
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