Shilajit is a tar-like resin that seeps from Himalayan rock, used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine as a rasayana, a rejuvenating tonic taken to build strength and vitality, and now sold widely for testosterone, energy, and fertility. The modern human evidence is early and thin: one placebo-controlled trial found a rise in testosterone in middle-aged men, a small uncontrolled study found higher sperm counts in men with low counts, and animal work links it to less fatigue through an effect on mitochondria, the structures that produce energy inside cells. Because shilajit is drawn from rock, the practical question is purity: analysis of commercial products has repeatedly found toxic heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury, sometimes above permissible limits.
Classical Ayurveda purified raw resin first, through a process called Shodhana, and only purified, third-party-tested product is appropriate to take today. Here is what it is, what the studies found and at what strength, the Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine framing, and the situations that call for care.
Findings & Outcomes
What It Is
Shilajit is a blackish-brown, tar-like resin that oozes from cracks in rock, mainly in the Himalayas and other high mountain ranges. It forms over a very long time from decomposed plant and microbial matter compressed in the stone. Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, has used it for centuries as a rasayana, a rejuvenating tonic, under the name shilajatu. It is not a classical Chinese herb.
Chemically, shilajit is dominated by humic substances, with fulvic acid as its most-studied active fraction, alongside minerals, a class of compounds called dibenzo-alpha-pyrones, amino acids, and trace elements. People take it today mostly for testosterone, energy, and fertility, and that is where the small human evidence sits. Because it is a raw mineral substance drawn from rock, an untested product can carry heavy metals, so purity is the first question to settle here.
Anatomy of the Practice
1Fulvic acid and humic substances
More than 80% of shilajit by weight is humic substances, and fulvic acid is the fraction most studied. Fulvic acid is a small, water-soluble antioxidant molecule that binds minerals and helps move them across cell membranes. It is the compound behind most of the proposed effects, from mineral transport to the laboratory work on brain-protein aggregation.
2Minerals and trace elements
About a fifth of shilajit is minerals, dominated by calcium, potassium, and magnesium, plus trace elements. The same natural material that carries useful minerals can also carry toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, depending on the source rock and how the product was processed.
3Dibenzo-alpha-pyrones
Shilajit contains a characteristic class of compounds called dibenzo-alpha-pyrones, often standardized for in supplement extracts. In animal studies, these and the fulvic acids are proposed to act on mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells, which researchers offer as the mechanism behind the anti-fatigue effect seen in rats.
How It Works
The proposed mechanisms center on fulvic acid and the dibenzo-alpha-pyrones acting as antioxidants and supporting mitochondria, the parts of the cell that make energy. In a rat model of chronic fatigue, a standardized shilajit extract protected mitochondrial enzyme activity and steadied the stress-hormone axis, and the researchers read that as how it reduced fatigue-like behavior. For testosterone, the trial that measured it did not identify a pathway: it reported the hormone rising while the pituitary signals that drive it stayed in normal range. For the brain, the interest is narrower: in test tubes, fulvic acid interferes with the clumping of tau, a protein involved in Alzheimer's disease. These mechanisms are drawn mostly from animal and laboratory work, not settled human physiology.
A few features of the evidence base shape how much weight each finding carries:
- The human studies are few, and most are small.
- Several test one proprietary purified extract.
- Some are connected to the company that makes that extract.
That does not make the results wrong, and the directions match the traditional uses. Each finding is best read as promising, and specific to the extract and dose that were tested. None is an established property of shilajit in general. The FindingLadder below grades each claim on that basis.
Where The Evidence Lands
Shilajit carries a long traditional reputation as a mineral-rich rejuvenator, and the modern evidence for it is early but specific. The strongest human finding is the testosterone one, and it rests on a single placebo-controlled trial in middle-aged men; a 2024 systematic review of testosterone boosters, which found most marketed products do nothing, counted purified shilajit among the few it judged possibly effective for men with low testosterone. Below that sit the fertility and fatigue findings, which come from one small uncontrolled study and from animal work. Together they are enough to take shilajit seriously, as the tradition long has, and not yet enough to promise a result.
On purity, the tradition and modern analysis agree. Shilajit is a raw mineral substance drawn from rock, and analysis of commercial products has repeatedly found toxic metals, sometimes above permissible limits. Natural describes where it comes from, not whether it is clean. Classical Ayurveda understood this: raw resin was always put through Shodhana first, a purification in herbal decoctions such as Triphala that removes much of the mineral and metal load, and the humic and fulvic acids in shilajit can themselves bind some metals. Neither the ancient step nor the natural binding makes an untested modern product safe.
Only purified shilajit with independent heavy-metal testing is appropriate to take; a product that cannot show a certificate of analysis for its batch cannot be verified as clean.
The specifics are gathered in the Cautions section below.
Ways to Do It
If you and, where relevant, the clinician who manages your health decide shilajit fits, the practical protocol is short, and the first two rungs are about the product itself; the dose comes after. No brand is named here. The three things that count are purity, tested metal content, and expectations that match the size of the evidence.
Only purified shilajit is appropriate to take. Raw or unprocessed resin scraped from rock can carry heavy metals, mycotoxins, and free radicals, and purification is the step that removes much of that load. Purified extracts, often standardized to fulvic acid or dibenzo-alpha-pyrones, are the form used in the human studies. Resin sold as raw or wild-harvested with no processing described is the form to avoid.
Because contamination depends on the source rock and cannot be judged by eye, the one check that matters is an independent laboratory test for lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, ideally with the certificate of analysis available for the specific batch. If a product will not show its heavy-metal results, its safety cannot be verified. This check matters more than the dose.
The testosterone trial used purified shilajit at 250 mg twice daily, and the sperm study used processed shilajit at 100 mg twice daily, both for 90 days. Those are the doses and durations the evidence actually covers. More is not better with a mineral substance, and staying inside the studied range keeps you where the safety and effect were observed.
The effects reported are modest and measured over about three months. Judge shilajit by how you feel across that window, not day to day, and give it the full three months before deciding. It is one input among many, and it works best paired with the practices that have stronger evidence for the same goals, such as resistance training for testosterone and muscle, linked below.
The Research & Studies
Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.
Progress Markers
Raised testosterone in men aged 45 to 55 in one 90-day trial
In one three-month trial, healthy middle-aged men who took a purified shilajit extract had higher testosterone than men on a placebo, and a later review counted it among the few supplements that may nudge testosterone in men.
Pandit 2016 randomized healthy men aged 45 to 55 to purified shilajit 250 mg twice daily or placebo for 90 days and reported significant rises in total testosterone, free testosterone and DHEAS (P<0.05), with gonadotropins LH and FSH maintained. The abstract gives no absolute hormone values, so the size of the change in everyday terms cannot be read from it, and it is a single small study from one Ayurvedic research group using one proprietary purified extract. Morgado 2024 systematically reviewed 52 studies of 27 proposed testosterone boosters and found most did not raise total testosterone; purified shilajit extract was one of a handful considered possibly effective in men with late-onset hypogonadism.
Who this may not transfer to:Measured only in men, and the outcome is male androgen levels, so it says nothing about effects in women, in whom testosterone physiology is different.
The studies · 2
Pandit 2016, Andrologia · Andrologia
Morgado 2024, Int J Impot Res · Int J Impot Res
Fertility
Raised total sperm count 61.4% in men with low counts
In a small study of men with low sperm counts, three months of processed shilajit raised sperm count and improved motility, and lowered a marker of oxidative stress in semen.
Biswas 2010 enrolled 35 oligospermic men (baseline count below 20 million/ml) on processed shilajit 100 mg twice daily for 90 days; the 28 who finished showed significant gains in spermia (+37.6%), total sperm count (+61.4%), motility (+12.4 to 17.4%) and normal forms (+18.9%), with serum testosterone up 23.5% and FSH up 9.4% (both significant), and semen malondialdehyde down 18.7%. Unchanged hepatic and renal profiles indicated the dose was tolerated. There was no placebo arm, so part of the gain over 90 days could run through expectation and natural variation, and expectation is itself a documented contributor to how the body responds.
Who this may not transfer to:Studied only in men with low sperm counts, so it does not speak to female fertility or to men whose counts are already normal.
The study · 1
Biswas 2010, Andrologia · Andrologia
Raised sperm production in rodent studies
In rodent studies, shilajit boosted sperm production and protected fertility against a toxic-metal challenge.
Park 2006 reported that chronically administered shilajit had both spermatogenic and ovogenic effects in rats, acting on male and female reproductive tissue. Mishra 2018 found shilajit reduced cadmium-induced infertility in male mice. Together these give animal support for the traditional profertility use, but animal reproductive findings do not establish an effect in people.
The studies · 2
Park 2006, J Ethnopharmacol · J Ethnopharmacol
Mishra 2018, Andrologia · Andrologia
Energy And Fatigue
Eased fatigue-like behavior in chronically stressed rats
In rats made chronically fatigued, shilajit lowered fatigue-like and anxious behavior and steadied their stress-hormone response.
Surapaneni 2012 induced chronic-fatigue-like behavior in rats by 21 days of forced swimming and pre-treated them with shilajit at 25, 50 or 100 mg/kg. Shilajit reversed the increase in immobility and the decrease in climbing, reduced anxiety on the elevated-plus-maze, and normalized plasma corticosterone and adrenal weight, which the authors read as modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The extract was standardized to 56.75% fulvic acids, 20.45% dibenzo-alpha-pyrone chromoproteins and 0.43% dibenzo-alpha-pyrones.
The study · 1
Surapaneni 2012, J Ethnopharmacol · J Ethnopharmacol
Counts once: this finding and 1 other here come from the same source, so they are one body of evidence, not separate confirmations.
How it works
Protected mitochondrial enzymes in stressed rats, a proposed mechanism
In rats, shilajit helped protect mitochondria, the tiny structures inside cells that produce energy, from stress-related damage, which the researchers proposed as how it eased fatigue.
In Surapaneni 2012, chronic swim stress lowered the activity of mitochondrial respiratory-chain enzymes (Complexes I, II, IV and V) and mitochondrial membrane potential in the prefrontal cortex, and raised oxidative-stress markers. Shilajit pre-treatment stabilized the complex enzyme activities and membrane potential and reversed the oxidative-stress markers (nitric oxide, lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase and catalase), leading the authors to name mitochondria as a potential target. This is a proposed mechanism from a single animal study.
The study · 1
Surapaneni 2012, J Ethnopharmacol · J Ethnopharmacol
Counts once: this finding and 1 other here come from the same source, so they are one body of evidence, not separate confirmations.
More than 80% humic substances plus about 20% minerals
Shilajit is mostly humic substances such as fulvic acid, plus minerals, and its exact makeup has never been fully pinned down and varies a lot depending on where it comes from.
Kamgar 2025 reviewed the analytical literature and reports that more than 80% of shilajit by weight is humic substances (fulvic acid the most-studied active fraction), about 20% is minerals dominated by calcium, potassium and magnesium, and the remainder includes amino acids (mainly glycine) and proteins, fatty acids, bioactive acids such as caffeic and gallic acid, dibenzo-alpha-pyrones, and trace metals including chromium, selenium and cobalt. The review stresses that no comprehensive chemical analysis has fully characterized shilajit and that composition differs markedly between source regions.
The study · 1
Kamgar 2025, Crit Rev Anal Chem · Crit Rev Anal Chem
Ayurveda used shilajit as a rasayana for over a thousand years, purified first
Shilajit has been used as a rejuvenating tonic in Ayurveda for well over a thousand years, and the tradition never took the raw rock resin as found: it purified it first (a step called Shodhana) to remove impurities. Modern chemistry points to fulvic acid and a class of compounds called dibenzo-alpha-pyrones as its main active parts.
Wilson 2011 reviewed shilajit in traditional Indian and Siddha medicine, where classical texts and pharmacopoeias describe it as a rasayana or rejuvenator taken to prevent ailment and enhance quality of life; the Charaka Samhita is among the texts that record its long use. Classical Ayurveda specifies purification (Shodhana) of raw resin by washing and processing in herbal decoctions such as Triphala kwath before it is considered fit to take, which is the tradition's own control on the mineral and metal load that raw resin can carry. Stohs 2014, reviewing safety and efficacy, identifies dibenzo-alpha-pyrones and fulvic acid and their derivatives as the constituents most responsible for the reported effects, and notes that purified shilajit has a well-documented safety record in animal and human studies while relatively few well-controlled human trials have yet been run. Fulvic acid, a small water-soluble molecule, binds minerals and helps carry them across cell membranes, which is the mineral-carrier role the tradition intuited before the chemistry was described.
The studies · 2
Wilson et al., review on shilajit used in traditional Indian medicine · J Ethnopharmacol 2011;136(1):1-9
Stohs, safety and efficacy of shilajit (mumie, moomiyo) · Phytother Res 2014;28(4):475-9
Cognition
Fulvic acid slowed Alzheimer-linked tau clumping in a dish, no human trial yet
In lab-dish experiments, fulvic acid from shilajit stopped a protein tied to Alzheimer's from clumping, which has led researchers to propose it as a possible brain-protective compound.
Cornejo 2011 showed in cell-free experiments that fulvic acid inhibits the assembly of tau protein into paired helical filaments and can disassemble preformed filaments, shortening fibril length and altering their structure. Carrasco-Gallardo 2012 reviewed this and related work and proposed shilajit and fulvic acid as candidate procognitive nutraceuticals, while calling for basic studies and clinical trials. All of this is test-tube and review-level evidence about a mechanism; no controlled human trial has shown shilajit improves memory or slows cognitive decline.
The studies · 2
Cornejo 2011, J Alzheimers Dis · J Alzheimers Dis
Carrasco-Gallardo 2012, Int J Alzheimers Dis · Int J Alzheimers Dis
Go Deeper
- Ashwagandha: the other traditional tonic sold for stress and testosterone, where the evidence is small branded-extract trials and the safety questions follow a similar shape.
- Biological aging: the framework behind the rejuvenation and energy claims, and how to read a tonic against what is known about aging.
- Resistance training: the best-evidenced lever for testosterone, muscle, and vitality, and the first thing to build in before or alongside any supplement reached for the same goals.
- Clean water and remineralization: where heavy metals and mineral intake are handled directly, useful context for judging a mineral supplement drawn from rock.
The Ayurvedic And Chinese Medicine View
Shilajit is first an Ayurvedic substance, with a long lineage of its own. The Charaka Samhita, one of the founding texts of Ayurveda, describes it as a rasayana, a rejuvenating tonic taken over time to build strength and slow the wearing of age, and holds that there is scarcely a treatable illness it cannot help when used properly. That is a claim from a tradition that has used shilajit continuously for well over a thousand years, across the Himalayan cultures that gathered it. Its best-known traditional uses, for vitality and for the reproductive and urinary system, sit within that rasayana logic.
The tradition was careful about safety. Raw resin was purified first through Shodhana, washed and processed in herbal decoctions such as Triphala to remove impurities before it was fit to take. In the traditional reading, the fulvic and humic acids that dominate shilajit are what carry its minerals into the body, and modern chemistry describes the same fulvic acid as a small molecule that binds minerals and helps move them across membranes.
Chinese medicine has categories a modern reader can map shilajit onto as a lens. It works extensively with mineral and earth-derived substances, and its tonifying herbs, the bu herbs, are understood to replenish the body's reserves. Within that, the warming Kidney and Yang tonics are the group a practitioner reaches for in someone who is depleted, cold, and low in drive, and the Kidney in Chinese physiology governs Jing, the deep constitutional essence tied to reproduction, growth, and aging. Because shilajit is a mineral tonic used in Ayurveda for vitality and reproduction, some modern Western practitioners place it alongside those Kidney-Yang and Jing tonics by analogy.
That is a bridge offered to a reader who thinks in the Chinese framework, not a classical designation, and the tradition would dose any tonic of this kind carefully and only where the pattern calls for it. No historical Chinese text describes shilajit, so treating the analogy as a classical teaching would be inventing a lineage that does not exist. The evidence for shilajit stands on the Ayurvedic tradition and the modern studies; the Chinese framing is a bridge to the rest of this library.
Cautions For This Practice
Extra restraintEverything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.
Can contain around 65 metals, including toxic lead, arsenic and mercury
Hussain 2024 searched the scientific literature and traditional sources and reports shilajit can contain around 65 metals, among them the toxic heavy metals copper, aluminum, lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Reported levels were generally below the WHO and FDA permissible limits for herbal drugs, but some studies found the limits exceeded. The review notes that humic substances in shilajit can chelate around a dozen metals, which is a proposed protective effect, but concludes the detoxification data are not yet clarified and that consuming shilajit without knowing its metal content is not safe.Hussain 2024, Biol Trace Elem Res
Retail shilajit tested with lead, arsenic and mercury above safe limits
Aldakheel 2022 analyzed two widely sold shilajit products (one Indian, one Pakistani) using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Both were rich in the nutrients calcium, sulfur and potassium but also carried aluminum, strontium, manganese, barium, zinc, nickel, boron, chromium, lead, arsenic and mercury above standard permissible limits, with toxins generally higher in the Indian sample and mercury and titanium detected only there. The authors framed the work as safety awareness for consumers.Aldakheel 2022, Biol Trace Elem Res
Use only purified, tested product; raw resin can carry heavy metals
Raw or unpurified shilajit can contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, along with mycotoxins and free radicals, and analysis of commercial products has found metals above permissible limits. Only purified shilajit with independent heavy-metal testing is appropriate, and a product that cannot show a certificate of analysis for its batch cannot be verified as clean.
Do not take it in pregnancy or while breastfeeding
Shilajit is not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding. There is not enough safety data to support use in either, and the heavy-metal risk is of particular concern for a developing baby, since metals such as lead and mercury cross the placenta and pass into breast milk. The cautious course is to avoid it during pregnancy, while trying to conceive, and while breastfeeding.
Iron overload and hemochromatosis
Shilajit contains iron and other minerals and has been used traditionally to support iron levels. That is a reason for care if you have hereditary hemochromatosis or another iron-overload condition, where added iron can accumulate and cause harm. If you have an iron-overload disorder, treat shilajit as something to discuss with the clinician who manages that condition before adding it.
Medications and existing conditions
Because shilajit can affect testosterone, iron levels, and blood sugar, take care if you are on hormone therapy, iron supplements, or diabetes medication, and raise it with your clinician first. Anyone with active gout should also be cautious, as shilajit has been reported to raise uric acid. If you take regular medication or manage a chronic condition, treat starting shilajit as a decision to make with a professional.
Quality and source vary widely
The composition of shilajit differs markedly between regions and products, and no product is fully characterized, so what is in one jar is not necessarily what is in another. Buy from a source that states its origin and processing and publishes its testing, and be wary of raw resin, unusually cheap product, or grand health claims, which are the signals of an unverified supply.
Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.
Common Questions
Does shilajit actually raise testosterone?
In one trial, yes, by a modest amount, in a specific group of men. Pandit 2016 randomized healthy men aged 45 to 55 to purified shilajit 250 mg twice daily or placebo for 90 days and found significant rises in total testosterone, free testosterone, and DHEAS, with the pituitary hormones LH and FSH staying in normal range. A 2024 systematic review of testosterone boosters, which found most marketed products do nothing, counted purified shilajit among the few it judged possibly effective for men with low testosterone. The caution is that this rests on a single small, industry-linked trial with no absolute hormone values reported, so the size and durability of the effect are not established, and it was measured only in men.
Is shilajit safe, and what is the heavy-metal risk?
The main safety question is contamination, not the substance itself. Because shilajit is a raw mineral resin drawn from rock, it can carry toxic heavy metals, and elemental analysis of commercial Indian and Pakistani products found lead, arsenic, mercury, and other metals above permissible limits. A broader review found shilajit can contain around 65 metals; most tested products came in under safety limits, but some exceeded them, and the authors concluded that taking shilajit without knowing its metal content is not safe. The practical answer is to use only purified product with independent heavy-metal testing, and to treat raw or untested resin as something to avoid.
Does shilajit help with fatigue and energy?
The energy claim rests mostly on animal work so far. In a rat model of chronic fatigue, a standardized shilajit extract reduced fatigue-like behavior and protected mitochondrial function, which the researchers proposed as the mechanism. That is a plausible mechanistic signal, but it has not been shown in a controlled human trial, so treat the fatigue and energy benefit as preliminary. If steady energy is the goal, build in the practices with stronger human evidence for it first.
Can it improve fertility or sperm count?
The human evidence is one small, uncontrolled study. Biswas 2010 gave processed shilajit to 35 men with low sperm counts for 90 days, and the 28 who finished showed higher total sperm count, better motility, higher testosterone, and lower oxidative stress in semen. With no placebo group, part of the gain could come from expectation and natural variation over the three months, and expectation is itself a documented contributor to how the body responds. Animal studies support a profertility effect, including protection against a toxic-metal challenge in male mice. Together this is enough to take the traditional fertility use seriously and not enough to establish that shilajit treats infertility.
How much do people take, and what should I look for in a product?
The studies used purified or processed shilajit at 100 to 250 mg twice daily for about 90 days, so that is the range the evidence covers, and more is not better with a mineral substance. What to look for matters more than the exact dose: choose a purified product that states its origin and processing and, above all, publishes independent third-party testing for heavy metals, ideally a certificate of analysis for the specific batch. A product that will not show its heavy-metal results, or that is sold as raw wild resin with no processing described, is one to leave alone.
Explore Related
Other pages this one connects to, by the evidence they share, the outcomes they touch, and the ground they cover.
All 14 sources on this page independently checked and cross-referenced.
Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus
Sacred Lotus has published Chinese medicine reference material since 2001. Integrative pages are held to the same standard as the herb and formula library: cite the source, grade the claim at its real strength, and say where the research has not looked. This page is educational and it is not medical advice. Last reviewed and updated August 9, 2026.
Evidence strength
How confidently the research supports a claim. Strength describes the evidence, not our endorsement.