Life - The Epic Story of Our Mitochondria: How the original probiotic dictates your health, illness, ageing, and even life itself by Lee Know ND

Author:Lee Know ND [Know ND, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science, Life Sciences, Biochemistry, Self-Help, Aging
Publisher: FriesenPress
Published: 2014-09-13T23:00:00+00:00

3.1 D-Ribose

It wasn’t until research in the 1940s and 1950s that we found out that D-ribose, a simple 5-carbon sugar, was the primary intermediate in an important metabolic pathway called the pentose phosphate pathway. Prior to this discovery, this unique sugar was thought to only be used as a structural component of the genetic molecules, DNA and RNA.

While it is important for energy synthesis (as a structural component of ATP), it wasn’t until the 1970s that researchers discovered that supplemental D-ribose, when given prior to, or immediately after ischemia in the heart, the energy-deficient hearts could recover their cellular energy levels.

In 1991, the first clinical study of D-ribose in cardiology was published. This was an interesting study because the doctors theorized that parts of the heart affected by ischemia and hypoxia were just hibernating and not actually dead; they were lying dormant and conserving energy until they had enough blood flow and oxygen to ramp up energy production and function properly once again.

The purpose of this study was to help the doctors determine what areas of the heart needed to be supplied with a new blood supply through a bypass surgery. If these segments were just hibernating, the surgeon could run a new blood vessel to that area. However, if that area was dead, there is no need to reroute blood to a dead zone.

What they discovered had repercussions that were far more significant to a general population. By administering D-ribose and replenishing the purine pool and energy reserves, the doctors found they could “wake-up” these dormant sections of the heart, proving their hypothesis.

Since then, many more studies have been conducted, and the benefits of D-ribose supplementation include improved recovery from cardiac surgery, improved function of the heart in congestive heart failure, restored energy to depleted skeletal muscles, and others.

This last point on skeletal muscles is important because while D-ribose, at this time, is under-utilized for cardiology, it has gained significant traction among athletes. Between 2002 and 2004, some significant studies were conducted that showed D-ribose results in a lower heart rate for a set amount of work on an stationary bike, improved diastolic function in the heart, increased exercise tolerance, and accelerated the energy pool of stressed skeletal muscles.

Athletic Heart Syndrome

These results are highly significant because it gives us a possible explanation to the diagnosis of an “athletic heart.” Athletic heart syndrome, also known as athlete’s heart or athletic bradycardia, is a condition commonly seen in sports medicine, in which the human heart is enlarged, and the resting heart rate is lower than normal. It is caused by significant amounts of aerobic exercise performed over a period of at least several months.

Athlete’s heart is common in athletes who routinely exercise more than an hour a day, and occurs primarily in endurance athletes, though it can occasionally arise in heavy weight trainers. While the condition is generally believed to be benign, it may sometimes be hard to distinguish from other serious medical conditions; indeed it’s caused the sudden cardiac death of many highly-trained and seemingly-healthy athletes.

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