Ribose Aids Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Patients

KONAD-ribose supplementation improved energy levels, sleep, mental clarity, pain relief and well being in patients suffering from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome in a recent multicenter study led by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. (The Open Pain Journal. 2012:5:32-37).

Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are debilitating syndromes affecting  about 2 to 4 percent of the population. Although they are different conditions, they have the common pathology of being associated with impaired energy metabolism.

This open-label, unblinded study include 257 patients in 53 U.S. clinics with a diagnosis of Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. All subjects were given D-ribose (as Corvalen from Bioenergy), a naturally occurring pentose carbohydrate, 5 g t.i.d. for three weeks.

In the 203 patients  who completed the trial, D-ribose treatment led to both statistically(P<0.0001) and clinically highly important average improvements in all categories:

Improvement began in the first week of treatment, and continued to increase at the end of the three weeks of treatment. The D-ribose was well tolerated.

These findings confirmed results of an earlier pilot study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2006:12 (9):857-862), involving 36 patients from a single medical center, who took D-ribose for an average of 25 days. Approximately 66 percent of patients experienced significant improvement while on D-ribose, with an average increase in energy of 45 percent and an average improvement in overall well-being of 30 percent (P<0.0001).

According to Dr. Teitelbaum, D-ribose provides the key building block for producing the energy molecule" adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in every cell.  Our hypothesis all along has been that giving D-ribose to people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia will jump-start their mitochondrial energy furnaces," he said. "Were pleased that the larger multicenter trial corroborated our earlier study, showing the same benefits for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome patients from multiple locations."

Douglas Laboratories exclusively distributes Bioenergys Corvalen for professional use; Nutri-Health Supplements, LLC, sells Corvalen through direct-to-consumer channels; and Sedona Labs distributes Corvalen to the retail health food store market.