D-ribose research in CFS and fibromyalgia was initiated with a case study in 2004 of a veterinary surgeon with fibromyalgia. After 3 weeks of D-ribose, this individual was back to full-time work, with the fatigue and muscle pain having disappeared. This level of clinical result is surprisingly quick and complete, but it does show us with this case result, that positive outcomes do exist. Another important study was conducted involving high-intensity athletes. While it did not include patients with CFS, it still demonstrates the impact of D-ribose on muscle energy. Post exercise, muscle energy levels in the athletes were reduced by almost 30%. The study demonstrated that supplementing with 10 g of D-ribose per day for 3 days following the exercise restored muscle levels to normal while those treated with placebo received no effect.
Other studies have shown no benefit of D-ribose supplementation on muscle energy. For example, a double-blind randomized study using 4 g doses of D-ribose 4 times daily did not find a beneficial impact on post-exercise muscle ATP recovery and maximal exercise performance.
An open-label non-controlled pilot study was conducted to eval