Errors in Eades 6 Week Cure: I. D-Ribose

For starters, if I ever went back to review this book, I would give it one star.  I can't recommend against this book and its diet plan strongly enough.  But since I finally got around to installing my Sony reader software on this computer, I was reminded of that book and the errors in it that I had intended to post about.  I'm not sure if I'll post this as a series or update/bump this one.

Pictured below is a screen shot of the D-Ribose recommendation on p. 99 of my ebook (these will likely not coincide with the hard copy).  This was the 9th recommendation in Weeks 1&2 of the "Cure" aimed at clearing the fat out of the liver.

If one does a search on D-ribose and insulin they will find that exactly the opposite is true.  D-ribose has a reputation of being insulinogenic with the potential of inducing hypoglycemia.  Here is a pretty good review paper on this:  Effect of D-Ribose on Insulin and Blood Glucose: A Chronological Examination

The effect of D-ribose (ribose) on insulin secretion and plasma glucose has been investigated since 1957, when the effect of insulin on the transport of various sugars, including ribose, across cell membranes was first studied. Over the decades, research has consistently shown that oral or intravenous ribose administration produces a transient, asymptomatic, and dose dependant decrease in plasma blood glucose to a nadir that is reached 30- to 75-minutes post-administration, before returning to baseline levels in approximately 60- to 120-minutes once administration is discontinued.  The mechanism of this blood glucose lowering effect has not been fully elucidated, but several have been studied and more than one appear to contribute to the effect.  Suggested mechanisms include direct stimulation of insulin secretion by the pancreas, indirect stimulation of insulin secretion by the liver and other tissues, a saturation of carbohydrate receptors in the liver and various tissues affecting insulin release, increased glucose utilization or decreased glucose production resulting from rising levels of blood ribose, and the competition in the liver for the enzyme phosphoglucomutase responsible for glycogen recruitment. Increased glucose utilization does not appear to materially contribute to the mechanism. Instead, the blood glucose lowering effect of ribose appears to result from a combination of factors including indirect stimulation of pancreatic insulin secretion, stimulation of humoral effectors causing secretion of minor, but important, amounts of insulin from tissues in the hepatic-portal pathway, and delayed glucose recruitment in the liver, likely due to competition for phosphoglucomutase activity. 

The linked article is a bit of a tedious read, but I found it interesting that the hypoglycemic effect of D-ribose is  significantly weaker in those with insulin resistance, and IR is correlated with central adiposity which is the purported target fat of this diet plan.  So adding D-ribose would raise insulin levels and exacerbate IR-associated hyperinsulinemia.  It's not all about the insulin, but regardless this recommendation is ill conceived.