Hi Scott,
I am not saying that an old woman should take 60 gram
doses of ribose, the above study is a quite extreme, of
course. Nobody would be able to take that much daily,
let alone afford it.
That high a dose of ribose would cause problems like
hypoglycemia and decreased lymphocyte count.
Most of the studies on ribose are in the Bioenergy link
above. The researcher from Bioenergy sent me
copies of some of these studies some time back and
they used typically up to 15-gram doses for congestive
heart failure. I'll have to look around for his envelope
later.
Even 15 grams is relatively on the high side of the budget
for anyone, and close to the 20-gram daily limit taken
chronically. Thus a daily dosage of 2 to 5 grams as an
adjuvant to drugs and other supplements, like fish oil,
would be fairly helpful to any heart patient, and far easier
on the pocket.
Ribose doesn't really do anything for cholesterol, but
rather improves replenishment of cardiac intracellular
energy nucleotides (ATP, ADP & AMP) that are depleted
due to ischemia, i.e. independent of oxygen. Coenzyme
Q10 and L-carnitine apparently require oxygen in order
to enhance such energy recovery in cardiac muscle -
and thus are not really helpful in ischemic tissue. I believe
this unique property is what makes ribose the subject of
intensive research in congestive heart failure as well as
ischemic heart disease currently.
I am currently giving my 84-year old father a 5-gram sachet
of ribose daily. After about 10 sachets, I was a bit shocked
when he told me he managed to climb up three flights of
stairs without much effort (I start to pant a little by the
third flight at 47). Obviously congestive heart failure
patients require more, probably around 10 grams for his
weight, but again budget constraints, and more importantly
side effects and compliance (difficult for an old man)
leaves me with the 5-gram dosage as a good compromise.
I'm lucky already he wants to take this supplement in
addition to others.
Like you, fish oils were first on my mind and one of the
first supplements I gave him, but he had some problems
tolerating them, complaining of dizziness, gastric
discomfort and gassiness. I have compromised by giving
him small cod liver oil gels.
However, after checking out on Medline that ribose is
actually used as a very potent inducer of AGES in studies
on antiglycation drugs and nutrients yesterday, I'm going
to have to find some good antiglycation supplements
and/or drugs to give him. I'm thinking of half to one tab of
metformin daily.
A quick link on ribose, which also cites the study you
mentioned. Note the paragraph :
"Research has shown that about 3 to 5 grams of ribose
taken every day should put enough in the bloodstream
to ensure that the heart and skeletal-muscle cells have
an adequate supply."
http://www.bodybuild.../fun/issa36.htmI came across the research on ribose by accident when
I suspected that the nutrients used typically by bodybuilders,
which includes ribose, HMB (hydroxy methylbutyrate),
creatine, BCAAs and glutamine, may well have applications
in heart failure. The heart, after all, is a muscle, and general
body muscle wasting (cachexia) also accompanies heart
failure and old age.
One of the beverages I had given him initially was something
I found in one of the local pharmacies here (there are hardly
any health food stores in Malaysia), meant more for people
working out, containing smaller amounts of creatine,
ribose and HMB.
Some links on HMB. It's quite expensive though.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=10917905http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=15105032http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=15665304http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=15915823As I mentioned in my intro earlier, I'm no professional,
just an amateur with some interest in life extension
trying to find some novel supplements to help my
old man with an improved quality of life and hopefully
a lengthened lifespan.