Shilajit is one of the oldest substances in traditional medicine and one of the newest arrivals in the modern supplement aisle. It is also the one category where the raw material itself carries real risk, which makes it unusually important to understand what you are buying.
Here is what shilajit is, what the human research supports, and the single factor that matters more than any other when you choose one.
What is shilajit?
Shilajit is a dark, tar like resin that seeps from crevices in high mountain rock, most famously in the Himalayas but also in the Altai, Caucasus, and other high ranges across India, Nepal, China, Central Asia, and Iran. It is typically collected between roughly 10,000 and 16,000 feet.
Despite looking like tar, it has nothing to do with petroleum or asphalt. Shilajit is organic in origin, formed over centuries by the slow microbial decomposition of plant material compressed within rock. Humic substances make up the majority of its mass, with the remainder a mixture of plant derived organic acids, resins, trace minerals, and small aromatic molecules. [1]
Its documented medicinal use goes back roughly three thousand years. Shilajit appears in the foundational Ayurvedic texts, including the Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita, where it is described as a rasayana, a category of substances used for vitality and longevity rather than for treating a specific complaint. That framing has held up surprisingly well, because the modern research points in the same direction: broad regulatory support rather than one dramatic effect.
Is shilajit safe?
This is the question to ask first, and it is the one most articles skip. Purified, standardized shilajit has a good safety record. Raw, unprocessed resin is a genuinely different proposition.
The reason is chemistry rather than sourcing. Fulvic acid, one of shilajit's principal active components, binds metals. That is a large part of what makes it biologically interesting, and it is also precisely why unpurified shilajit tends to concentrate heavy metals out of the rock it forms in. Raw resin has been documented to carry lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, along with mycotoxins and free radicals produced during natural formation. [2] The property that makes it useful is the same property that makes the unprocessed material a problem.
This is not theoretical. When an independent testing laboratory analyzed eight shilajit products sold in the United States in 2024, the fulvic acid delivered per serving ranged from 6.9 mg to 2,206 mg, a roughly 320 fold spread inside a single category, and one product was rejected for containing far more than its label declared. [3] The category has a real consistency problem, and price is not a reliable signal.
What separates a good shilajit from a risky one comes down to four things you can check:
- Purification. Has the raw material been processed to remove heavy metals and mycotoxins, or is it simply resin scraped from rock and packaged?
- Standardization. Does the label state a guaranteed level of fulvic acid and the other marker compounds, or does it only say "shilajit"?
- Third party testing. Is there a certificate of analysis for heavy metals available for the batch you are buying?
- Research on that specific material. Nearly every study cited below used a specific purified, standardized extract. A generic resin has not been studied and cannot borrow those results.
Be skeptical of very high advertised fulvic acid percentages, too. Some analytical methods overstate fulvic acid content, so a "75% fulvic acid" claim may reflect the test used rather than a better product. [1]
Read more on what purification actually involves and how to read a shilajit label.
What does fulvic acid actually do?
Fulvic acid is the component most people have heard of, and it is worth separating what is established from what is marketing.
What the evidence supports is that fulvic acid and a related group of compounds called dibenzo alpha pyrones function as redox active carriers. In practical terms they can accept and donate electrons, which is the basic currency of energy production inside mitochondria. Laboratory work has shown these compounds accumulate in mitochondria and help stabilize coenzyme Q10 in its active form. [4] Fulvic acid molecules are also small, in the range of 700 to 2,000 daltons, which is thought to aid intestinal absorption. [1]
Fulvic acid also delivers trace minerals in a conjugated form, meaning bound to organic molecules rather than as isolated mineral salts. Purified shilajit extracts typically specify iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium at low single digit percentages.
What you will often read, and what the evidence does not support, is that fulvic acid chelates heavy metals out of your body. The metal binding literature for fulvic acid comes almost entirely from environmental science, meaning metals in soil, sediment, and water. There is no human trial showing that shilajit or fulvic acid mobilizes or removes stored heavy metals from the body. Treat that claim as unproven wherever you see it.
Does shilajit raise testosterone?
This is its best known modern finding, and the study behind it is reasonably solid.
In a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial, 75 healthy men aged 45 to 55 took either a purified, standardized shilajit extract at 250 mg twice daily or placebo for 90 days. In the shilajit group, total testosterone rose 20.5%, free testosterone rose 19.1%, and DHEA-S rose 31.4%, all statistically significant compared with their own baselines. [5]
DHEA is worth noting alongside the testosterone numbers, because it is the upstream precursor the body draws on to make both testosterone and estrogen. Supporting it is a more foundational effect than moving one downstream hormone.
Two honest caveats. First, this was a single trial at a single site, and it has not been independently replicated with the same endpoints. Second, the results are strongest read as changes from baseline. The placebo group's testosterone declined sharply over the 90 days, which is a larger drop than you would expect in untreated healthy men over three months, so the gap between groups looks more dramatic than the shilajit group's own improvement.
Does shilajit help with energy and fatigue?
The best human evidence here is about fatigue resistance rather than a stimulant style energy lift.
In a randomized, placebo controlled study of 63 recreationally active men, eight weeks of a purified shilajit extract at 500 mg daily reduced the loss of maximal strength following a deliberately exhausting exercise protocol. Strength loss was roughly halved compared with a lower dose, and serum hydroxyproline, a marker of collagen breakdown, was also lower. [6] Notably, the extract did not increase absolute strength. It reduced how much strength was lost under fatigue, which is a different and more specific claim.
The mechanism most often cited comes from animal research. In rats, shilajit modulated the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, the body's central stress response system, and helped preserve mitochondrial function and membrane integrity under an induced fatigue protocol. [7] That is a plausible and interesting mechanism, but it is rodent data and should be read as such. No human study has directly measured ATP production or mitochondrial respiration with shilajit.
Does shilajit support bone and connective tissue?
This is the most rigorous shilajit research that exists, and almost nobody talks about it.
Sixty postmenopausal women aged 45 to 65 with low bone density were randomized to placebo, 250 mg, or 500 mg of a purified shilajit extract daily for 48 weeks. Bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and femoral neck progressively declined in the placebo group, which is what normally happens in this population. In both supplemented groups it did not, and the effect was dose dependent, with significantly better changes from baseline at both 24 and 48 weeks. [8]
The mechanism made sense too. RANKL, a protein that drives bone breakdown, fell while osteoprotegerin, which blocks it, rose. Glutathione, the body's primary internal antioxidant, increased from week 12 onward while markers of oxidative stress and inflammation fell. Those findings connect: laboratory work shows glutathione shifts the RANKL to osteoprotegerin balance toward bone formation, so the antioxidant effect and the bone effect are two readings of one process. Fifty nine of the sixty women completed all 48 weeks.
On connective tissue, a randomized trial found that 500 mg daily for eight weeks nearly doubled serum Pro-C1a1, a validated marker of Type I collagen synthesis, against a much smaller change on placebo. [9] Muscle biopsy work separately found upregulation of Type I and Type III collagen genes along with genes governing extracellular matrix adaptation. [10]
More on minerals and bone health.
What minerals are in shilajit?
Shilajit carries a broad range of trace elements, which is part of its traditional reputation as a restorative. Potassium, calcium, and magnesium together account for the large majority of its total mineral content, with iron, copper, zinc, manganese, and smaller amounts of chromium, selenium, and silica also present. [1]
Two points of realism are worth making. The mineral quantities in a typical daily serving are small, so shilajit is not a substitute for addressing an actual mineral deficiency. And the specific mineral profile varies by geographic origin, which is another reason standardization and batch testing matter more here than in most categories.
If you want to know your actual mineral status rather than guess at it, that is what hair tissue mineral analysis is for. It measures your mineral levels and your heavy metal load. It does not measure hormones, so if you want to know your testosterone level, that requires a blood test through a healthcare provider.
More on what an HTMA actually measures.
How much shilajit should you take?
The human trials cited here used 250 mg to 500 mg per day of a purified, standardized extract. The bone study found benefit at both 250 mg and 500 mg with a dose dependent pattern, and the strength and collagen studies used 500 mg.
Timeframes in the research ran from eight weeks to 48 weeks. This is a cumulative supplement, not something you feel on day one. A review of shilajit safety found purified preparations well tolerated at these doses, with the important qualifier that this applies to purified material and not to raw resin. [2]
Frequently asked questions
Is shilajit resin better than a shilajit extract?
Form matters less than processing. The questions that count are whether the material has been purified to remove heavy metals and mycotoxins, whether it is standardized to a stated fulvic acid level, and whether batch testing is available. An unpurified product in any format carries the contamination risk described above.
Does shilajit detox heavy metals?
There is no human research showing shilajit removes stored heavy metals from the body. The metal binding studies behind that claim come from environmental science, not human physiology. What is well documented is the opposite direction: unpurified shilajit can carry heavy metals into you, which is why purification and testing matter.
Can women take shilajit?
Yes. The single most rigorous shilajit trial, the 48 week bone density study, was conducted entirely in postmenopausal women. [8]
How long does shilajit take to work?
The studies above measured outcomes across eight to 48 weeks. Fatigue resistance and collagen markers were assessed at eight weeks, hormonal markers at 90 days, and bone density at 24 and 48 weeks.
Who should not take shilajit?
Anyone under 18, and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you take prescription medication, manage a health condition, or have known heavy metal exposure, talk with your healthcare provider first.
The bottom line
Shilajit has a longer history than almost anything else in a modern supplement cabinet, and a more interesting research base than its reputation suggests. The strongest evidence is not the testosterone finding everyone cites. It is a 48 week randomized trial on bone density, backed by collagen synthesis data and a coherent antioxidant mechanism.
But shilajit is also the one supplement where the raw ingredient can genuinely work against you. Fulvic acid binds metals, which is what makes it useful and what makes unpurified resin risky. Purification, standardization, and batch testing are not premium features in this category. They are the difference between the thing that was studied and something that merely resembles it.
Purified shilajit is one of five branded ingredients in Upgraded T, alongside standardized tongkat ali, French grape seed extract, S7, and gelatinized maca. See how the five work together.
References
- Carrasco-Gallardo C, Guzmán L, Maccioni RB. Shilajit: a natural phytocomplex with potential procognitive activity. Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2012;2012:674142.
- Stohs SJ. Safety and efficacy of shilajit (mumie, moomiyo). Phytother Res. 2014;28(4):475-479.
- ConsumerLab. Shilajit supplements review and tests. September 2024.
- Bhattacharyya S, Pal D, Gupta AK, et al. Shilajit dibenzo alpha pyrones: mitochondria targeted antioxidants. Pharmacologyonline. 2009;2:690-698.
- Pandit S, Biswas S, Jana U, De RK, Mukhopadhyay SC, Biswas TK. Clinical evaluation of purified shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers. Andrologia. 2016;48(5):570-575.
- Keller JL, Housh TJ, Hill EC, Smith CM, Schmidt RJ, Johnson GO. The effects of shilajit supplementation on fatigue induced decreases in muscular strength and serum hydroxyproline levels. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2019;16(1):3.
- Surapaneni DK, Adapa SRSS, Preeti K, Teja GR, Veeraragavan M, Krishnamurthy S. Shilajit attenuates behavioral symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome by modulating the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and mitochondrial bioenergetics in rats. J Ethnopharmacol. 2012;143(1):91-99.
- Pingali U, Nutalapati C. Shilajit extract reduces oxidative stress, inflammation, and bone loss to dose dependently preserve bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Phytomedicine. 2022;105:154334.
- Neltner TJ, Sahoo PK, Smith RW, et al. Effects of 8 weeks of shilajit supplementation on serum Pro-c1a1, a biomarker of type 1 collagen synthesis: a randomized control trial. J Diet Suppl. 2024;21(1):1-12.
- Das A, Datta S, Rhea B, et al. The human skeletal muscle transcriptome in response to oral shilajit supplementation. J Med Food. 2016;19(7):701-709.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Hormones are a system, not a switch. Support the whole system, and test, don't guess.