D-ribose is a 5-carbon sugar that cells make and that is found in some foods; the body uses it to make ATP, the molecule cells use for energy. As a supplement it is taken to improve exercise capacity and recovery, on the idea that more ribose means more ATP.
Also known as: ribose, D-ribose powder.
The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) describes studies of 625 mg to 10 g a day for up to 8 weeks. A 5-day recovery trial used 10 g a day (Seifert 2017). These are study protocols, not a recommendation.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show, per ODS: the limited research shows little if any benefit for exercise capacity in trained or untrained healthy adults, and supplemental ribose does not appear to improve aerobic or anaerobic performance. In a crossover trial of 26 adults, 10 g a day of D-ribose kept cycling power up and lowered perceived effort and a muscle-damage marker over 3 days of hard exercise compared with dextrose, but only in less fit people, not fitter ones (Seifert 2017); one author lists an affiliation with a company, Jacqmar, Inc.
Safety: ODS says short-term studies reported no safety concerns, but no studies have assessed long-term use. The European Food Safety Authority considers D-ribose safe for the general population at up to 36 mg per kg of body weight a day (EFSA 2018).
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for D-ribose that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one.
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