Ribose has chiral carbon atom characteristics and has two configurations, including L-form and D-form. L-ribose is extremely unstable, and ribose mainly exists in the D-type form, D-ribose. D-ribose powder is a highly water-soluble, sweet-tasting five-carbon sugar known as D-ribofuranose. It is a natural aldopentose found in all living cells and is widely present in the furan form.
- Molecular formula: C5H10O5.
- Molecular weight: 150.13g/mol.
- Melting point: 86~87℃
- Specific rotation: -19.5~-25 (in 24℃ water)
D-ribose is in the form of white crystalline powder at room temperature. It has a slightly fragrant smell and easily absorbs moisture. It is soluble in water and methanol. There is a tendency to be supersaturated in water. Slightly soluble in ethanol, insoluble in ether, benzene, acetone, and chloroform. Taking advantage of this property, adding an organic solvent to the aqueous solution of D-ribose can reduce the solubility of ribose and precipitate D-ribose in the form of crystals. This ingredient easily absorbs moisture in the air and forms syrup when dissolved in water.
It is a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms and is an extremely important aldopentose. It exists in all living cells, with α-type and β-type, with five isomers. In vivo, D-ribose exists in the form of β-furan-D-ribose. In an aqueous solution, these five isomers can be rapidly converted. Therefore, this component has complex variable optical properties. In living organisms, D-ribose usually operates together with phosphate and plays a vital physiological role like glucose. D-ribose and its derivatives exist in nature as furanose sugars. Derivatives of D-ribose include phosphate esters, O-glycosides, and N-glycosides.
3 Major Application Areas Of D-Ribose Powder
Anti-Aging Area
NAD is an indispensable coenzyme component for hundreds of enzyme proteins in the human body, including the longevity enzyme protein Sirtuins. It participates in thousands of redox enzymatic reactions in the human body and fundamentally impacts human health. Research shows that as age increases, the content of NAD in the body gradually reduces, and the communication between mitochondria and cell nuclei is impaired. Reduced NAD also impairs cells’ ability to produce energy, which may be one of the important causes of aging and disease in humans.
Research shows that D-ribose has certain anti-aging effects. Using mice and fruit flies as experimental subjects, feeding mice a certain amount of ribose can significantly extend the mice’s oxygen tolerance time. The average and maximum lifespans of fruit flies were significantly increased after being fed a certain dose of ribose.
As the precursor and important raw material of NMN/NR, D-ribose has promising application prospects in anti-aging. In addition, it also has the effects of enhancing immunity, resisting the increase of free radicals, anti-wrinkle, and delaying skin aging.
Medical Field
In medicine, D-ribose can be used in the following two aspects.
- Treat myocardial ischemia, improve the heart’s ability to tolerate ischemia, and improve overall heart function.
- Treats muscle soreness caused by exercise, stiffness caused by adenylate phosphate deaminase deficiency, muscle pain caused by phosphorylase deficiency, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia.
By observing the effects of D-ribose on blood sugar, blood lipids, and insulin in rats fed a high-fat diet, it was found to improve glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in rats fed a high-fat diet. It shows that D-ribose has potential value in the treatment of diabetes.
D-ribose can also be used as a precursor in the synthesis of other drugs. For example, using D-ribose as a precursor, steroids, VD structural analogs, prostaglandins, nucleosides, and other drugs can be prepared. Intermediates such as terpenoids, chymosin inhibitors, and modified amino acids synthesized from D-ribose can also synthesize riboflavin in large quantities.
D-ribose is the main raw material for the large-scale synthesis of riboflavin and ribavirin in medicine. It can significantly and cost-effectively reduce the production cost of the drug. D-ribose embedded in the molecular structure of certain substances is an effective drug for treating AIDS and anti-cancer and anti-viral drugs. Research using D-ribose to synthesize anti-tumor and anti-viral nucleoside drugs has achieved many results. New anti-viral and anti-tumor drugs have been synthesized in recent years, such as pyrazofurin, F-methylinosine phosphate, metamycin, halogenated chondroitin, and the treatment of ovarian cancer. Capecitabine, synthesized from D-ribose, is currently an effective drug for the treatment of colon cancer, breast cancer, and other cancers. Metamycin and F-methylinosine phosphate prepared thereby can be used for the treatment, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and immunodeficiency. Research has also found that D-ribose in drugs can be modified to contain sugar-containing antibiotics. It reduces the side effects of the drug and increases its efficacy.
MAD, muscle adenylate deoxygenase deficiency, can also be treated with D-ribose. After treatment, the patient’s muscle aches, pain, twitching, and other muscle discomfort gradually disappeared, and his health condition improved without any side effects. Patients can use it for a long time.
D-ribose can treat myocardial infarction, cardiac ischemia, diabetes, and other diseases. It can also eliminate muscle pain caused by the lack of phosphorylase in cells. When used with other drugs to treat cardiovascular diseases, it will not interfere with other drugs. Research has also found that this ingredient can promote the heart’s ability to resist ischemia and tolerance to ischemia and maintain the stability of myocardial membrane permeability. Pliml W D researches the side effects of the clinical use of D-ribose. The results demonstrated that taking D-ribose to treat disease had no effect on the proliferation of human lymphocytes.
D-Ribose Applications In Other Fields
- Energy drink
Because D-ribose has anti-fatigue and anti-hypoxia effects, D-ribose additives are added to various liquid and solid beverages at home and abroad as a new energy factor.
- D-Ribose with weight loss
D-ribose plays a role in improving the body’s immunity and improving protein properties. It is used to treat fibromyalgia, help lose weight, and quickly replenish energy. It can also be synthesized to prepare ribose diesters, which are used to regulate fiber.
- Hospital area
D-ribose is formulated into a protective solution to protect the heart during surgical procedures.
How Safe Is D-Ribose?
D-ribose powder is a dietary supplement in the US market and has been recognized by the US FDA as a new food ingredient. Diarrhea may occur when ribose intake exceeds 200mg/(kg·h). D-ribose is a five-carbon sugar. Five-carbon sugars are highly water-absorbent. Excessive intake can cause intestinal dehydration.
Taking ribose may also cause mild symptoms such as nausea and dizziness in a small number of people. When the dosage of ribose is less than 15g/d, most people have no side effects.
In addition, ribose has a relatively short half-life. It reaches its highest value about 30 minutes after taking it and is fully absorbed in about 120 minutes. Although ribose can effectively replenish ATP in muscles, exercise experts do not recommend that healthy young people use ribose as a performance enhancer to replenish energy.
Conclusion
D-ribose powder is widely used in many aspects, such as general food, health food, clinical nutritional food, special functional food, medicine, etc. Especially in the pharmaceutical industry, ribose is not only an intermediate for various drugs but also has medical effects. Presently, research on the pharmacological effects of D-ribose focuses on the following aspects.
- Relieve muscle soreness
- Enhance body energy
- Improve heart function
- Improve cardiac ischemia
- It has improvement and treatment functions for many diseases.
In recent years, as the fermentation process for producing D-ribose has gradually matured, production costs have been reduced, and new processes have been improved, its application scope will be further expanded.
References
- Addis P, Shecterle L M, Cyr J A S. Cellular protection during oxidative stress: A potential role for D-ribose and antioxidants[J].Journal of Nutraceuticals Functional & Medical Foods,2012,9(3):178-182.
- Kishimoto K, Kintaka K, Uchiyama N. Production of D-ribose[P]. US, US 4904587 A,1990.
- Pliml W D. Use of ribose to treat and/or prevent stroke[P]. Germany, DE 19650754 A1,1998.
