Description:
Ribose, taken before, during or after high-intensity exercise, accelerates replenishment of depleted adenine nucleotide pools, keeping ATP and TAN levels at their peak, and providing rapid regeneration of critical energy molecules for maximal training. Over 150 studies demonstrate the ability of ribose, a pentose sugar found in all living cells, to increase adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels and total adenine nucleotide (TAN) recovery, promoting skeletal and cardiac muscle energy metabolism. Ribose is the key compound used by the body to form the nucleotides AMP, ADP and ATP, which are depleted during strenuous physical activity or from lack of oxygen. Skeletal and cardiac muscle rely on these metabolites for energy, and two metabolic pathways preserve these pools. The first mechanism involves salvaging end products of AMP breakdown, or preventing them from leaving the cell. If they are salvaged, they may be recycled back to AMP and ultimately to ATP. The second mechanism for preserving nucleotide pools is de novo synthesis, or formation of new nucleotides from ribose. Both of these crucial activities can only begin when ribose is converted to 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP).